


A Single Popped Balloon

by TheOtter99



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Blood and Gore, Character Death, Child Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Swearing, people being sad a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 58,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25450534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtter99/pseuds/TheOtter99
Summary: When Jeremy goes to work one day, he receives some bad news that will change the future of Freddy Fazbear's forever. But is Jeremy prepared for these sudden chances and will his life-long friend and co-worker accept what is happening with peace?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	1. Just Another Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Several years ago, when I was just starting to seriously write, I wrote a FNAF fan-fiction. I still credit that to being one of the first major projects I have ever finished. I tried to find this story recently but I've discovered that the original has been lost to the sands of time and all I had left were the notes I wrote for the story... So, I decided to write the story all over again in an attempt to preserve history. So don't expect much out of this story. It's mostly a dumb thing that I'm doing for fun more than anything else.  
> Also, I wrote this story while FNAF 4 was coming out and before the whole FNAF lore went crazy to the point that I have a difficult time trying to line it out in my head. So because of this, William isn't mentioned or anything like that.

Breath in, breath out. Keep your heart rate low. If it’s too high they might hear your fear and know you aren’t one of them. Don’t breathe. Don’t shake. Stay silent. You might be able to pass off as one of them. And if you do that, you may be able to survive the night. That is all you need to do. Survive the night and everything will be fine.   
But was that the only way to survive the night? Make it seem like you were one of them? Of course not. It was not that easy. It was never, never that easy. Some of them hated light, so use that to your advantage. So never, never let your flashlight run out of batteries.   
And never forget the music box. Don’t ever forget it for if you do… she will come get you.   
These were the rules I had to remember for 5 lonely nights being a night guard for a child’s pizzeria but I wasn’t looking for someone trying to break in. I was looking over the things who were already inside. Those poor, poor souls. I wished I could have helped them but tonight I was busy with trying to save myself.  
I found myself in an office, a large one with no doors. There was a large entrance that lead into the completely dark hallway and vents that were placed on the east and west sides of the room, neither of which had covers. The office was dark, except for a few lights shining down onto the checkered pattern floor and rusty walls. There were monitors on the floor and wires hanging down from the ceiling. There wasn’t much to bring life to the room except for the poster of animatronic animals and drawings children have done on the wall.   
This didn’t help much as I sunk in close to my seat and glanced around in a panic, almost hugging the monitor in my hands that was used to look at the cameras throughout the restaurant, along with my flashlight so I could look down the dark tunnels of the hallways and vents. My free hand was mere inches away from a large, and uncomfortable mask that looked like a robotic head of a cartoon bear. This was the only thing helping me to blend in with the restaurant but I could never do my work with it on as the eye holes were small and I could barely breath through it. I had to have this thing off my head and this only made things feel worst.   
I held my breath as I flipped through the cameras. From the outside, this place may have looked like a normal arcade and restaurant for children, where they had bad pizza while robotic animals sung and preformed for them, but on the inside, this was a horror show. It was never during the day when the danger came about. Gosh, never. We wouldn’t have let the kids be in that kind of danger. Instead it was always at the night, possibly because they couldn’t see well with the lights off, who knew… but it was the night when the robots would become a danger.   
How could anyone survive something like this? I was surprised that I was about to for a few days.  
A crack echoed to the right side of me and I quickly flashed my light on to see who was there. The shine of metal made my eyes squint but the color of blue was very noticeable and I quickly dived for the mask that was next to me. The moment I put it on, the lights in the office began to flicker and my heavy breathing was suffocated by the mask and was loud in my ears. Through the flickering of the lights, something left the vents and moved in front of me, staring in my direction. I refused to move as the robot revealed himself to be a tall, shiny blue rabbit with a red tie. The kids would have never been this close to the rabbit, but I was able to hear the clicks of his joints move and feel the heat coming off of his metal skin.   
I held my breath and slowly counted to ten and soon as the lights turned off for only a second, the bunny disappeared.   
Slowly, I took off my mask and held it close as I foolishly let myself take a breather. That was close. Too close to my liking. He almost-… I didn’t dare let myself finish the thought.   
I quickly took out the monitor again and looked through all the cameras and then, I remembered something as I looked on the camera that was pointed towards a simple box. I forgot the one most important rule. Don’t forget the music box. Don’t let it wind down. Never, unless you want her to come.   
A child’s laugh could be heard at the end of the dark hallway and I quickly put down my monitor. I took out my flashlight and I peered the light down the hallway, biting my lip.   
At the end of the hallway was simply a child, humming softly and drawing on the wall with a crayon. She had long brown hair and was wearing a black and white shirt. Tied around her right wrist was a yellow balloon that floated up towards the ceiling but will never truly be free. Making a worried noise, I slowly got up from my desk and took a few steps towards the hallway.   
“Kid? You’re not supposed to be here? A-Are you okay?”  
The girl looked over at me, dropping her crayons. “Save us, Mr. Fitzgerald.”   
I couldn’t help but take a step back. “W-What?”  
Tears started to swell up in the girl’s eyes. “Please, please save us before it’s too late. Please…” In the shadows, behind the girl, a figure appeared but I couldn’t see any of their features. All I noticed was the flash of something as the figure raised his arm.   
I tried to cry out to the girl to look out and to run but within a second, it was already over and the girl fell to the floor. I quickly covered my mouth and stepped back as the flashlight fell to the ground.   
No, no. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. Oh, gods, not again.   
And then the music in the air started. It was a lighthearted song that swelled in the air as the sound of a music box winding down was in the background. It was calming music but it only made the girl in front of me twitch and shakenly stand up from where she fell. She stood up and fell against the wall on the other side of the hallway and I froze.   
She wasn’t a little girl anymore. Her body was now tall and stick little. Her body was completely black with white stripes across her lanky arms and legs. Her white head slowly turned towards me as her black eyes dug into my soul and her purple tear marks felt like a stain on my life.  
Twitching, the marionette took a few steps towards me. I tried to run, but it felt like my feet were glued to the ground. I couldn’t do anything. I was trapped. I was finally going to die from th-  
Before my thought could finished, the marionette suddenly sprung towards me, her arms reaching out towards my neck. And everything turned black, with nothing but the sound of blaring ringing in my ears.

I woke up, finding myself laying on the floor, next to my bed and tangled up in blankets. My entire body was shaking and my clothes were soaked in sweat. Making a worried noise, I quickly pulled myself out of the blankets and crawled to the nearest table to help myself onto my feet. I almost felt my knees give out as I did this, but I managed to stay on my feet as I looked around. I was in my apartment bedroom. A safe, safe bedroom that was small and barely had any space to walk in but it was safe…  
I stared down at my hands for a moment and slowly wiggled my fingers as I managed to calm myself. I was still breathing hard but at least I managed to calm myself down and get a grasp on my reality. Safe at home.   
I sighed and glanced at my closet where I quickly grabbed some clothes and I went to the bathroom to take a quick shower to rid my body of the sweat I gained from my nightmare.   
The shower didn’t take long and soon I was drying myself off and putting on my work clothes for the day. It was a red button-down shirt with its sleeves rolled up and had black epaulets, a name tag pinned to the front of it that said, ‘Jeremy’, black pants, and a work cap. It wasn’t much but this was what I wore for years so it felt homey.   
I sighed deeply and held tightly onto the bathroom sink as I looked myself in the mirror. I wasn’t much of a looker and could be thought of a below average man. I was very short and skinny. It was clear just by my looks that I couldn’t throw a punch or hold my own in a fight. I was just a weak man with a skinny face that was covered in freckles that made me look young and brown, tired eyes. They were so tired. I brushed my fingers through my messy brown and curly hair that kept falling in front of my eyes, blocking my view from the world. I needed a haircut.   
I blew my hair out of my face and looked at myself, trying to smile. “You… You look really good today, Jeremy? Yeah! You do… it…. It’s going to be a good day. No, a great day to be Jeremy Fitzgerald!” I nervously laughed and slowly walked out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen to get myself some breakfast and relax before I had to head to work.   
It wasn’t an impressive breakfast as it was only toast with peanut butter on it, but as I made this simple meal, I couldn’t help but wonder what I would be doing at work today. Maybe I would work at the prize counter and give the child prizes or maybe I’ll be in the kitchen making pizzas or it might just be a maintenance day and I would be trying not to cause attention to myself… because I sucked at that job. It was different everyday but that was to be expected out of me since we never know when people would not show up for work. I didn’t blame them. I would do the same if I wasn’t too deep into this mess.  
I sighed softly.   
At first glance, I didn’t work anywhere special. It was just a children’s arcade called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. There, the kids ate pizza and ran around the place playing games to either celebrate a birthday or to just have some fun. But that isn’t what made the place so special to young children across the country. In front of the dining area was the show stage where robotic animals would sing songs and interact with the kids.   
The kids loved this most of all but to me, it was my biggest fear.   
I needed to stop thinking about this though because my food was ready to be devoured. I sat at my table and looked around the very small kitchen before I picked up a piece of toast and would have taken a bit out of it if the wall phone nearby suddenly didn’t start ringing. I dropped my toast onto my plate and slowly looked at the phone with a lot of worry.   
No one called this early in the morning unless there was a problem, a really bad and serious problem. I held my breath and my throat tightened for a moment. There was only one person who called at this time and it was Caleb, the janitor. He was a good kid. Shoot, why did we have him be the first one to come in the mornings. It wasn’t fair to him. It never was fair to him.   
I slowly approached the phone, which I took a moment to pick up and answered. “Um, hello?” I spook softly at first.   
“Jeremy!” Caleb, exactly who I expecting, screamed out on the other side. A radio was blaring behind him and was playing rock music. “Um, I got some news to tell you…”  
With the music, I was unable to hear what he was saying. “What? C-Caleb… I can’t hear you.”  
“I said-“ Caleb sighed as the music turned up and he screamed to someone that must have been next to him. “Normally I would jam out with the music but is this the right time?” There was a pause before the music slowly turned down and I could hear again. Caleb sighed before speaking into the phone again. “I… I’m sorry about that. Mike seemed to be done with life and honestly, I don’t blame the dude.”   
Hearing Mike’s name made the gears turn in my head because I would only get called this early in the morning because something important happened and usually the important thing was bad news on the night guard… That’s what the last few weeks have been like.   
As I remembered back to something, Caleb spoke again. “Jeremy?”   
I flinched a little before I leaned against the nearest wall. “Yeah? I’m here. Um, w-what happened?... Did he quit?... that… that happens a lot…”   
There was a pause. A long pause as Caleb’s shaken breath sunk into my ear. “Um, m-maybe you should come here so we can tell you in person. It’s really bad and it, it isn’t a thing that one should hear over the phone, you know?”   
“Alright… Um, I’ll be right over.”  
“Cool… cool… s-see ya then, Jeremy.”   
“Yeah. I’ll see you in 20 minutes…” My hand shaking, I placed the phone on the receiver and glanced around.   
It probably wasn’t that bad, right? Who was I kidding? Caleb never played sick pranks like that when it came to the restaurant. He never would have been that disrespectful. This was serious and this was important. I couldn’t stay here much longer so I quickly swallowed my food and ran for the door.   
I would have opened the door and ran out of there as quickly as possible if it wasn’t for one thing. The landlord was right outside my door and was about to knock. Once he saw me, I went into a rant about how I kept causing a ruckus by screaming and making noise at night and if I did it again, he would personally come in the middle of the night to kick me out.


	2. Purple Hair and Yellow Bunnies

After the long-winded conversation with the landlord (It only last a few minutes but it felt long), I managed to tell him that I had to go to work and I escaped him.   
Soon, I stepped outside of the apartment building and I glanced around the small city I found myself in. It wasn’t much but it was home. I smiled a bit and I started walking down the sidewalk, readjusting my hat. Good thing work was just a quick walk away because I didn’t own a car. Walking was still nice. Work was such a stressful place at times and many terrible things could happen so it was good to have this walk, to do nothing except clear my head and relax. It worked as my previously running head was finally relaxing.   
I stopped at the end of a sidewalk and waited for the crosswalk to allow me to cross the street in front of me and I watched the cars pass by. On the other side of the street was a sidewalk in front of another small apartment building, where kids had gathered and were drawing on the ground with chalk. I couldn’t help but smile a little at this sight.   
Gosh, if there was something that kept me from quitting my job was just making the kids happy. And we haven’t had an incident in years so I hoped to think that they were safe too.   
I couldn’t help but think back to one of my first days on the job. I wasn’t doing much because I was new and inexperienced so I was just working at the prize counter, shadowing someone else. That was fine with me though for at the time I was only there for a summer job but this changed one day when I watched my fellow employees do their job and… there he was.   
Wyatt was his name and even though he wasn’t the boss of the place he owned the building and made many big decisions. He was bad at being observant, and often rambled about the worst stuff when he didn’t mean to. He had trouble telling people what to do so someone else had the job. That didn’t mean he wasn’t well respected in the job he had, which was basically to just walk around the place and act as a good, old grandfather to everyone.  
He was a short and skinny man, and his hands were little bony, but wherever he went at the time, a smile would be on his face. He wore a bow tie with his uniform and his cap hide his thinning, gray hair underneath. Behind his glasses were sparkling blue eyes and his presence brought such a happiness to this place that even a seasonal worker like me looked up to him.  
That day, he and a group of employees was bringing a cake over to a table where a birthday girl with a large colorful hat sat. Once Wyatt walked over there, the girl’s eyes sparkled and she gasped in excitement. She clapped a little as Wyatt turned to the other workers and helped them sing the restaurant’s version of “Happy Birthday.” The man was a little awkward while they did this but it was still charming.   
After they did this, the girl blew out the candles on the cake and Wyatt started cutting the cake for the small family. The family enjoyed each other’s time for a bit before the father got up and stepped to the side with Wyatt. I could only hear a few words that were spoken, but from what I heard, I guess the father was thanking Wyatt for such a good day and for making her kid happy. Knowing Wyatt, he probably said something like how it wasn’t a big deal or anything but he was stuttering and rambling a lot as he said this and that thought made me smile a little.  
I loved what the place used to be like before the incident and I remembered it was around that day that I decided that I wanted to stay here and work for these people full time. I wanted to make young child smile that much and I wanted to make a small difference in their day. Yeah, sure. This place was just an arcade, what could this place really do for a child in the long run but still… Just seeing their smiles would be enough.   
Another person then stepped into the scene to tell the girl happy birthday and to celebrate with them. It was a tall, machinal rabbit with buttons on his chest and a purple bow tie. The rabbit’s skin was yellow to bring a bright and happy feeling into the restaurant and even though he towered over the other’s, he lowered his body a little to be at the girl’s level. A smile was pasted across his face and the rabbit didn’t move like any other robot that would be made after this one. The rabbit was full of life and had a spring in his step. He didn’t say a word to the girl but instead gave her a small bag of game tokens and a hug and that made the girl’s day.   
The rabbit spun around and from where I was, I could see black hair sticking out from the back of the metal head.  
Coming back into reality as the crossing sign allowed me to walk across the street, I smiled a bit at these old memories and I wished so much to return back to that time. Back to a time where death wasn’t a main topic of our identity.  
But then the incident happened and everything changed. Instead of working during the day to be with the kids and to make them happy, Wyatt decided that it would be best if he himself took the night shift for he seemed to be a natural at the dangerous duties of it. I had only taken the night shift once before and I was so close to… I didn’t dare think about it. I couldn’t. I don’t know how Wyatt managed to do this for so long.  
Wyatt never let anyone else take the night shift unless it was for a very important reason like those few nights I worked it. Wyatt tried getting a night guard once with one of the new buildings but that quickly didn’t work in his favor as things only fell apart. He would always be the night guard from then on, he decided. After all, he’s pretty sure an inexperienced person wouldn’t even last two nights here.  
But Wyatt recently has started to age and time has not been well on him. All the restless nights have made him exhausted and each week he seemed to have a new scar or cut. He was old when I first started so the constant survival for his life was becoming too much for him.   
Most of you may be confused with what I am even talking about and that is honestly good. That is so, so good. Gosh, the whole situation was bad. It really was and how was one person supposed to comprehend it without going crazy. I didn’t know how I didn’t fall at the seams every time I thought about it but…  
The animatronics that were supposed to entertain children and make them happy in our restaurant tended to get a bit quirky at night. And, quirky isn’t a good thing in this case. It… It wasn’t. The robots moved around at night. They stepped off their stages and roamed around the restaurant to do… whatever they wanted. And if they saw anyone there, someone made out of flesh and bone… not good things would happen. Terrible, terrible things would happen. My heart pounded and my breath became heavy as I thought about it.   
But now Wyatt was getting ready to retire. His heart just couldn’t take that much stress anymore. But yet, it was so hard and difficult to find someone who would stay longer than two days here… whether they decide to quit or... I swallowed hard thinking about this. At least we had Mike. He seemed promising with his strong head and witted attitude.  
I remember it took Wyatt forever to finally decide to retire as up until then, I bet he thought he would work the night shift until he died or he fixed the problem with them. But his doctor had forced him to lower his stress levels because of his slow and failing heart. At least Wyatt can make sure that the next person fit for the night watch was able to do the job correctly and take care of the robots. That was the best solution for the future of this place.  
I remember before this week started as we hired Mike as the new night guard, Wyatt walked up to me with several tapes and I responded with a confused look. This made Wyatt respond with a quick explanation of how they were training tapes that hopefully would help the new workers. At the time, he only had one recorded but I remember he said something about him planning on recording the rest during his guard duty that night. That was a few days ago.   
He brought me the first reordering to listen to and I was generally confused with how normal Wyatt made murderess robots sounds along with the part where Wyatt started to read the contract of liability. The recording filled the room as Wyatt spoke, “Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear’s entertainment are not responsible for damage, property, or person. Upon discovering that damage or death has occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached, and the carpets have been replaced. Blah, blah, blah. Now that might sound bad, I know, but there’s really nothing to worry about.”   
I slowly looked at Wyatt, horrified at what I was hearing from these recordings. “It… I-It’s nothing to worry about? Wyatt, please tell me you’re joking… P-Please.”   
Wyatt sighed and glanced at the window, shivering a little. “It’s everything to worry about, kid… just… the boss wanted me to do it… H-He, he didn’t even support the recordings idea but after some convincing, he agreed and said I could only do it if I made it sound like it wasn’t anything too bad… I kind of failed in that regard and I don’t know if I made it worst but… we’ll see what happens. W-We’ll see.” Wyatt sighed and hugged himself.   
“You know how the boss is.” After a moment of reflection, Wyatt’s voice turned deeper as he started to mock his boss, and he swung his arms back and forth. “Money, money, money. I love money. What is best for business, hm? We can’t let things fall apart just because bad things happened.” Wyatt places his finger under his nose, making it like he had a moustache as he blew a raspberry.   
I squeaked and quickly looked around. “Hey, what are you doing? W-What… what if the boss came in? H-He’ll yell at us.”   
Wyatt stepped closer to me and chuckles. “Jeremy Fitzgerald! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be working. Get back to work and make some pizzas!”  
I held back a laugh and tried to cover up Wyatt’s mouth. “What are you doing?” Wyatt gave me a little nudge and I finally started playing along. “Whatever you say sir. How about I make you a birthday cake while we’re out it.”  
Wyatt raises an eyebrow. “As long as that comes out of your paycheck.”   
Finally, that got me laughing and I gently shoved Wyatt. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say.” The two of us started laughing and we leaned against a table, laughing in sync and enjoying ourselves.   
After a bit, Wyatt wiped a tear from his eyes and sighed as he slowly stopped himself from laughing. He sighed. “Hopefully Mike enjoys them though?”  
“Oh, is that the name of the new night guard?”   
“Yeah… he’s a character though so… I honestly have no idea how long he’s going to last…”   
Coming back into reality, I heard a voice in the distance. “Hey you, kid! I know you!” As I stepped onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street, a man on a skateboard was rolling down the sidewalk, staring right at me, flipping me off. I couldn’t help but sigh at this but I decided not to bring it up.   
The man reached me where I was and he jumped off his skateboard and stomped on the end of it so it can flip upwards and he caught it with his hand. “I’ve seen you around, it’s almost like we work together. But that’s impossible. You’re nine so you shouldn’t be working.” The man shoved me to the side and I almost fell into the road but the man quickly grabbed the back of my shirt to catch me.   
I squeaked and quickly took a few steps away from the man and looked him over. I spoke quietly, a little shy at first, even though I knew this man for many, many years. “O-Oh, um… hey, Vincent. D-Didn’t expect you to be here … I thought you usually came to work late… But, um… it’s still good that you’re here.”  
“I wasn’t going to work. I was going to pick up something at the gas station.” Vincent shrugged and took out a lighter and a cigarette to start smoking. As smoke filled the area, I began coughing a bit but Vincent didn’t seem to care about this.  
Vincent was a tall man. Like he was very, very tall and towered over all of us in work, and with him being skin and bones, it made it look like he was a living skeleton. His white shirt was wrinkled and his sleeves weren’t buttoned up by his wrists. His pointed nose was directed towards me and his brown eyes examined my every move, almost like he was judging me. I knew he wasn’t… but the smile that spread across his face twitched like he already knew everything about me. The one thing that make Vincent stand out was his shoulder length hair that he had tied back into a pony tail. He had it dyed purple a few years ago so now anyone can see him in a five-mile radius.   
Vincent laughed a bit and relaxed as he smoked his cigarette. “Anyway, I thought you didn’t have to go to work for a few hours. What are you doing here?”   
“Wait… you didn’t get the phone call?”   
“If you’re talking about the calls that Caleb always gives to you then no. I never get his calls whenever something important happens in the mornings. I don’t think that kid thinks I’m responsible enough to pull me into these situations. I’m the second longest worker here, soon to be first. I need to be treated like it.” Vincent huffs and crossed his arms. “I was never treated this way when Wyatt wasn’t retired.”  
“I mean you do get to work late most of the time…”  
Vincent glared daggers at me when I said this and quickly, I shut myself up. Vincent seemed pleased by this and nodded as he continued to speak. “Gosh, I liked it when Wyatt actually did managing stuff. It was only a few weeks ago but I already miss it. Jerms, the two of us needs to convince the man to start working again… or at least give me the keys to the place when he retires so I can run it however I want it to look.” Vincent chuckled at this but immediately stopped when I spoke again.   
“It might be a bad idea to have him continue his work… You know that… since he’s getting older and his health is declining-“  
“Jeremy, shesh.” I shut my mouth again. “Anyway, what was I saying? Um… Can’t remember but, don’t you remember the good old days of the place. I think it was around when you first became an employee. The times before… you know happened were something. Dude, I remember those safe rooms and how we would sneak into them to have our lunch break and play cards. I would beat you so much in poker.”   
“We weren’t even allowed to go in there.” I softly chuckled at suddenly remembering the memory.   
“And yet we did. That was back when you were cool, Jerems. You didn’t freak out whenever I broke the rules. What even happened to make you stop that?”  
“The incident.”   
Vincent paused at this, shaking a little as he quickly tried to change the subject. “Oh… um… anyway, what else was it like back then?” Vincent’s eyes then started sparkling. “Wait… wait a minute. Remember those suits that we used to own that got discontinued. Gosh… I’m suddenly having flash backs to those. I loved the suit that I was assigned. You remember, Jeremy? It was a bunny suit and it had a dumb bow tie?”   
I smiled a little more, happy that Vincent was no longer telling me to shut up. “Yeah, I was just thinking about that… Gosh, you were probably one of the best people who were in those suits. How did you do it?”   
Vincent swayed a little thinking before smiling. “Well, you know how those suits were basically just robots with their mechanic parts pressed up against their shell so we could wear them… So, that meant everyone was afraid of moving around too much in those suits. They didn’t want the machinal parts to go back into place with them in it since that would kill them. Me on the other hand didn’t fear death so I bounced around and moved a lot in those suits. I made it my job to make myself look alive in that suit and I succeed! I was the best!”  
“You really were…” I sighed a little sad and Vincent was thinking the same thing that I was.   
“Of course, then the incident happened and those suits were banned and I haven’t seen mine since. Gosh, I miss that rabbit…. Um, I think it was called Spring Bonnie. Yeah… I miss him.”   
Vincent sighed and quickly changed the subject before I could ask him if he was okay. “Anyway, why does Caleb even want with you? What’s the big issue this time?”  
“H-He wouldn’t say… All he said was that it was probably important that I heard in person. So, that’s where I’m going.”  
“Well, I’m going with you since I’m important too! Caleb should know that.” Vincent growled softly and I stepped back.   
“Sure dude… Um, I-I know that you’re important and such…. S-so please. Come with us and… yeah.” I stumbled through my words.  
“Niiiice. I knew I could count on you.” Vincent removed my cap for a second just so he could ruffle my hair. “Hmm, and I’ll race you there.”   
I squeaked as Vincent dropped the cap onto my head and sped off on his skateboard, zipping around cars that was driving down the road and honking their horn at him. I watched him for a moment, in worry, before I slowly started walking back to work.


	3. Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's!

Soon, the two of us started approaching a large white building in the middle of a shopping plaza. By the time I finally entered the plaza, Vincent was already entering into the building, still riding his skateboard. Vincent was going to brag that he won when I got inside, I just knew it. 

I sighed and stared walking towards the building through the large parking lot as I looked around. The white paint was a faded and the sidewalk by the doors were cracked and had some weeds growing through it. The windows where tilted black so it was hard to look inside it which only made it more difficult to prove that we were a good business with nothing wrong.

Of course, there was a lot wrong with this place… what was I think? 

The sign of the place, several feet above the doors, had a photo of a robotic bear with a top hat, smiling down upon the parking lot right next to the words, “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.” The sign’s paint was peeling in several places but at least it was still readable.

I sighed, and finally managing to get to the door, I walked inside the restaurant. Walking in, the first thing one would come across was the front desk where parents would order their pizzas and drinks and get all the tokens for their kids. Banners the color of black and white was lined up along the edges of the top of the walls and the floor was of a checkered pattern color. Posters of a bear, bunny and chicken (Along with a pirate fox sometimes) was hanging up throughout the walls and red stripes were lined up against the walls as well. 

Standing at the cash register was an employee that has only been here for a few years but has managed to stick by us this whole time, which is a lot longer then most people who worked here. Here name was Hailey and the sight of her brightened my day. Her dark toned skin was clean and bright and the little bit of makeup she had on only brought out her hazel eyes and rosy cheeks. She was short like me but her straight posture made her look taller and full of power and strength. She was always the voice of reason here. She had fuzzy, dark brown hair that spiked up and had to be pulled back by a bandanna. Because her hair was so large, she neglected to where her work hat most days. 

The moment I walked into the building, a widen smile spread across Hailey ’s face as she looked me up and down. “Well, look at who here’s early. As much as I like to see you, the fact that you’re already here makes me a little nervous. What’s up?” 

I slowly walked over to the counter and leaned against it, shaking a little. “I… I wish I knew. Your brother called me and said for me to come here without telling me why… I guess that means this is a very serious issue…” 

“Caleb called, huh?” Hailey leaned against the back wall, thinking. “He hasn’t told me what was up so that’s weird. Hope everything is alright.”

“Me too, Hailey …” I hugged myself. 

“Hey… don’t worry too much. Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure that you’ll figure it out. You’re practical one of the bosses around here so-“

“Hey!” Vincent’s voice yelled out from the back of the restaurant. “I’m a boss too!”

“Vinny… I said one of the bosses, you meathead.” Hailey muttered under her breath but made sure Vincent couldn’t hear her. This worked as Vincent didn’t say anything else and we were alone again. “Anyway, yeah… you’ll get through this and if it’s very important then you’ll get us all through the mess.”

I weakly chuckled. “Why do you say that? Wyatt is the one in charge here.”

“Yeah, but he’s about to retire.” Hailey leaned in closer to me and started to speak softly. “Someone has to take his place with being the manager and word has it, he’s going to give someone the building. Maybe it will be you. You’ll be in charge, right under the boss.”

I slowly took a step back at this, my throat tightening. “Wha? N-No… why would you say that?” I glanced over and noticed Vincent slowly approaching the from the back of the desk. 

“Because you’re the best that we got here. Yeah, Vincent knows a little more than you do and he’s been here longer but… You really care about where we’re going and… what happens to them. I… I’ve actually seen you and Wyatt work together a lot on some things. You two were trying to figure out how to help those animatronics… You two read a lot and are always brainstorming, sometimes even into the night… Wyatt really cares about this place and he cares about you. I’m pretty sure he’ll give you this place because… well, you deserve it, Jeremy.” 

I looked at Hailey, a small smile on my face. I was about to say something about how she was too kind and that she looked up to me too much but then Vincent stepped out from behind the wall, coughing. “Hey, Jerms. It’s not that fun having a race with you when you stop and talk to your lover.” 

I started blushing. “W-What? She’s not my-“ 

“Byyyeeee, Jeremy. Meet you in the break room.” And off Vincent went, leaving me with Hailey who looked at us confused and I was just blushing up a storm. 

After a moment, Hailey finally asked, “Huh, are you-“

“Um, anyway… I should start heading over. S-See ya, Hailey. Maybe we’ll talk later.” I covered my face with my cap and started walking away from this very embarrassing scene.

After I was several feet away from Hailey, I slowly lowered my hat away from my face and glared at Vincent who was two steps away from the break room. He gives a sly smirk before walking into it. Sometimes I wished I had the courage to stand up to him for real… 

I sighed and slowly looked around the restaurant, mentally checking to see if everything was in order as I made my way to the break room. 

The floor was checkered throughout the entire ground and there was postures and banners hanging on the gray walls in an attempt to give the area some life. Right next to the front counter, away from the main space was the prize counter and the few arcade machines there was in the building. We used to have so many others but we have been losing money and now the place that used to have games at every corner was reduced to only 15. They were all gathered by the prize counter. Some were shooters while others were chance games. There was a test your strength game that I tried out with Vincent but my friend did so well that I looked like a child by comparison. 

At the prize counter was a woman who had just started working there a month ago and would probably quit in another month for no one lasted very long here. At least the prizes here were decent. They were normal ones that were expected in a prize stand like this— candy, a paddle ball, toy cars, basketballs and other nick-knacks. The best sort of prizes there were the plushies of the different animatronics like a purple bunny and a red fox. I had to take a step back when a noticed a yellow rabbit plush hanging on the back wall of the prize counter but I decided to stay silent about it. 

I turned towards the main area of the restaurant and looked around the room, tired. It was the party room, but it didn’t look like much of a party in the opened restaurant to be honest. It had a few lines of long tables with white cloth thrown over them and a line of cone shaped hats that were placed down the center of the tables. This was where most of the children ate their pizza and cake when they visited. The walls surrounding the area held some doors that lead to extra rooms like the restroom, storage and the kitchen but the customers were never allowed in the last two places. At the back, behind all the tables were two hallways that lead to the office and the break room. On the east wall was a place called pirate’s cove. The place was a half circle against the wall but no one could see what was inside it for the cove was blocked off by purple curtains currently. In front of it was an old dusty sign that said the words, “Out of Order.” I smiled sadly as I knew that sign would probably never be put away. Poor Foxy… 

Of course, there was a few booths along some of the empty walls but why would the children want to sit there to miss the main attraction. After all, people only came to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza for one reason… if only they knew the true secrets behind them. In the front of the building facing towards the tables was a stage where our celebrities preformed for the children every day. This was where Freddy and his band played. 

Standing on the stage, currently unmoving, were large and tall animatronics that towered and creeped over anyone who stepped towards the stage. The sight of them staying still like that brought a chill to my spine and I couldn’t imagine how the kids who visited here would love these robots so much. Of course, the kids only saw them like this and only experienced them singing fun songs and telling silly jokes. 

There was Bonnie the Bunny to the left side of the stage and he was a tall purple rabbit with a red electric guitar in his hands. The paint on his metal skin was peeling a little and there were patches of lighter purple on his ears and stomach. His large, three toed feet wasn’t bolted to the floor, in fact none of the robots were bolted to the floor. He had a metal blood-red bow tie and his large snout covered almost a half of his face. His bottom row of white square teeth was exposed and his black nose seemed to have dust on it today. The most unnerving feature of Bonnie was his purple eyes that seemed to glow. With no eyebrow and his eyes engraved deep into his robotic skull, it felt like he was staring right at me. I couldn’t help but step back a little after examining him. 

To the right of the stage was a large yellow robot with the bottom half of her legs being orange with two toes that was white in color. She was Chica the chicken. Around her neck was a bib with bold yellow letters with a purple outline that said “Let’s Eat!!!” and laying in her right hand was a tray with a large pink metal cupcake on it. On the cupcake was one candle, two buckteeth along the front bottom of the frosting and yellow uncanny eyes. She had a large opened, orange beak that exposed her bottom teeth as well and purple eyes with a shadowy outlines that surrounded her eyes. 

And in the center of the stage was the main star, the figure that this whole franchise was named after- Freddy Fazbear. He was a large brown bear with a similar figure to Bonnie’s, but with a different paint job. He had freckles on his cheeks and unlike Bonnie had eyebrows. His bowtie was black and a top hat was neatly placed on the top of his head. Settled on his right hand was a microphone. His round ears were directed towards any noise and for a moment I thought his blue eyes was looking at me.

I quickly stepped back and looked away from the robots, my hands sweating and my breath heavy. Poor souls. Those poor souls. 

“Hey, Jerms!” Vincent called out from several feet away and I jumped almost ten feet high, thinking that someone was attacking me. I hugged myself, holding me shirt tightly as I slowly glanced over to where Vincent was calling. He wasn’t far, he was just by the hallways that lead to the break room. 

I softly responded back before I quickly coughed and spoke a little louder. “Yeah? You okay?” 

“Dude, you’ve been staring at those robots for five minutes. I should by asking you if you’re okay.”

“Oh, um, yeah. I’m good. Just got deep in thought. That’s a-all. Sorry about that. I’m coming.” 

“Good. Because Caleb isn’t doing anything until you get over here. He’s all sweaty and stuff. The man looks on edge and you need to get here.”

I slowly nodded and inched towards Vincent, finally focusing on the reason why I came here in the first place. I quickly entered the long hallway, and glanced around. The moment I entered here, the area became darker and it was less inviting than it was in the main show room. I held my breath as I passed the door in the middle of the hallway, and looking through the window on the wall here, I could see Scooter’s formal office- the office that was now dedicated to the night guard duty. 

Before I could see too much inside it, Vincent continued walking down the hallway and I had to follow without a second thought. Soon, we reached the end of the hallway, where the hallways turned and went into many different directions. I couldn’t understand why the building was like this, many of these hallways didn’t even go anywhere expect for empty walls that seemed to have something moving behind it. The only important place these hallways lead to was the break room that we soon entered. 

There was nothing special about this room. There was a wall of lockers and some couches by a radio in the front of the area. Towards the back of the room that was where everyone was. Along the back wall was a fridge, a sink, cabinets and whatever else was needed for the workers to have a good lunch when their break came. There were two tables with foldable chairs surrounding them and sitting on the left table was two people. 

Caleb was sitting at the head of the table, covering his mouth like he was trying to figure something out. Being Hailey’s brother, he had a darker skin tone and his long hair was also a mess and pulled back into a short pony tail. His brown eyes were staring at the table and seemed to be tearing up a bit. 

The other person was sitting on the table and was holding what seemed to be a tape recorder. This was Mike Schmitz, our current night guard and seeing him here was unnerving as I thought for a moment I was called here because he was gone. He was wearing the normal work outfit but it was wrinkled and the tie he was wearing the night before was now untied and acted more like a scarf then anything. His hat was placed next to him to reveal his short brown hair on his square head. His green eyes glanced over when Vincent and I walked in but then he quickly looked back at the recorder, staying silent and baring his teeth a little. He was almost as tall as Vincent, but his body was broader. On his cheek was a slashed scar and his hands were wrapped in bandages. Neither of thee things existed last week before he started working. 

I softly spoke when I walked in. “Hi, I’m here. I-Is everyone okay?”


	4. Everything is Explained

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this mainly just a lore dump? Um, yes. But it's FNAF so I think being told how the timeline is being followed in this story is probably very important.

Caleb glanced over at me, his body shaking and a silence fell throughout the room as Vincent and I looked at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. After a few seconds, Caleb opened his mouth to try to speak but a short choking sob only came out. He quickly covered his mouth, his hands shaking as he stood up. He glanced over at me and then quickly looked away. 

He stared at Mike for a moment before whispering, “I can’t do this. I can’t… M-Mike… I know you’re new but can you… please…” 

Mike looked up from his recorder, not expecting to be called. “Sure, dude. I guess I can. I won’t be the most sensible person to give out these kind of news though-“

Suddenly Caleb hugged Mike, who looked very confused by this. “Thank you… just…. Th-thank you. I’m going to wash up.” He slowly let go of the hug and looked back at me, his vision was probably blurry from how much tears swelled in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I have to go… I’m so sorry.”

And Caleb quickly pushed passed us to go to the bathroom. 

I made a worried noise and tried to follow Caleb but Vincent quickly stopped me. “He’s clearly upset about whatever news he wants to give us, dude. I would stay here and get all the information first so you know what was up.” 

I stared at the door that Caleb ran out through before I slowly nodded, agreeing with Vincent. I looked back over at the lunch table and Mike was now standing, placing a tape recorder on the table and inserting a tape into it. He was humming softly, probably to distract himself from the awkward situation he found himself in. When the tape recorder wouldn’t cooperate with him, he punched it and somehow it started working. Once he got everything set up, he looked back over at us and not knowing what to do, he gave two finger guns.

Vincent returned the gesture. “Sup.” 

Mike only responded to this with a growl. “Oh, now you act like we’re all buddy-buddy?”

“What? The hell did I do?” Vincent chuckled softly.

“My first day on the job. You, locking me in the kitchen, and the dough exploding in the oven.” 

“Pfft, that doesn’t sound like me. But whoever did that must be a genius.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. That isn’t why you two are here. Um, please… take a seat and we’ll get started on this. And, I’m sorry for the way that I’m about to tell you this. I honest to god have no idea how else to tell you because I only met the dude once and I just meet you all last week. So, this is a very awkward situation I find myself in.” 

Mike slowly sat down on the table next to the tape recorder, and Vincent and I joined him, us sitting in seats. Mike was silent for a moment and we patiently waited for him to speak as I looked at Vincent, unnerved. All Vincent did was look at me and shrug. 

Finally, Mike spoke, but very softly. “Well, you all know how I have been the night guard here for the past week. I have basically been your guinea pig to see if I survived this little hellhole. And I survived four days so I hope your happy.”

Mike glared at both of us before sighing. “So, the formal night guard decided to leave some tapes for me. I guess the dude did this for years so he would be perfect for training. You would think that, right?” We stayed quiet so Mike continued. “Well, he’s not… Sure I managed to strive four days but… he wasn’t perfect. Want to hear the tape I had to listen to last night?” 

Vincent and I looked at each other as my stomach dropped. I couldn’t believe what Mike was implying. I couldn’t believe it at all. No. That couldn’t happen. Vincent sighed at my blank expression and waved his hand towards Mike, signaling for him to start playing the tape. Mike shrugged and quickly pressed play on the tape recorder. 

Immediately, the sound of static filled the room as the recording started and it only took a few seconds for a noise to be heard. And then the ringing started on the recording for Wyatt had recorded these on a phone and soon I found myself taking off my hat and wringing it in my hands as my clothes started to sweat. I didn’t know what to expect but it couldn’t be good. Vincent stayed sitting where he was, his posture straight and focusing on the wall in front of him, taking in every detail of the tape. Mike was leaning against a wall at this point. He stared at the ground in silence, messing with his bandages and having no idea what to do.

Finally, the ringing on the recording stopped and Wyatt’s voice filled the room. It was almost shaky and extremely tired in nature and once I heard it, I couldn’t help but quickly stand up. “Hello, hello? Hey, wow, day four. Uh, hey, listen. I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow.” 

And then the banging started. As the recording rung in my ears and something banged against something in it, my heart stopped and I stared at the tape recorder, shaking. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t. It can’t. No. Please god. No. I grabbed the tape recorder, almost hugging it as I listening to the tape closely. Once Vincent heard the banging, all he did was close his eyes.

“Shit…” He muttered softly. “You son of a bitch… you didn’t allow that to happen…” 

The recording continued. “It’s, It’s been a bad night here for me. Um, I, I’m kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you,” Wyatt cleared his throat a little, “Uh, when I did.” The banging continued in the background and I couldn’t help but flinch. “Maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits in the back room?” Bang, bang. “I’m going to try to hold out until someone checks. Maybe it won’t be so bad…” Bang! Bang! Bang! “I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads back there. You know…” 

And then a lovely tune started to play. In any other context, hearing this might have been nice and relaxing but the chime only brought agony against my soul. I started to scream out to the tape recorder, telling Wyatt to get out of there and run but, we were all well aware that he couldn’t hear me. 

And then, Wyatt said his last words, “Oh no-“ A loud screech erupted through the room for only a second before the recording turned to static. I yelped and the tape recorder quickly fell out of my hands, collapsing against the floor and breaking. My body shaking, I slowly looked over at Vincent who had stood up towards the end of the recording. Vincent looked back at me, his lower jaw shaking but before I could say anything, he quickly excused himself and left the break room.

I watched as Vincent pushed pass Mike to get to a more private space. My legs felt too weak to get out of the room so I drew a shaky breath and slowly sat on the couch, my vision blurry and my stomach twisting. A cry rose up my throat and I quickly covered my mouth. No… No, he couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t have. They couldn’t have killed him. Please… Please tell me that this was all a bad dream. I knew it wasn’t but I wished nothing more to wake up. This was all nothing more but a bad dream, a nightmare that I always had and would wake up from, meeting the landlord once again to hear his complaints that I was screaming in the middle of the night again. 

But I didn’t wake up. 

I was still awake but I never left the nightmare. I’ve been in this nightmare for decades and I was never going to leave.

Mike stayed where he was for a few moments before he finally looked around to make sure no one was coming and he took a few steps towards me. Mike awkwardly sat next to me and slowly patted my back, glancing around.

Without thinking, I suddenly hugged Mike, and stayed there for several moments, my entire body shaking violently. Mike make a squeak out of confusion before after a full ten seconds he slowly returned the hug and let me cry in his shoulder. He must have felt very out of place there but I couldn’t help but be glad that at least someone had stayed here to comfort me. 

Gosh… what was Caleb and Vincent thinking at this point. Caleb had helped Wyatt every morning after his night shift. He would patch up the injuries Wyatt had or just talk to him. They were always together in the mornings and I couldn’t dare think how close their bond was and how that was now broken. I needed to check on him soon, very soon. 

And then Vincent. I had no idea what he was thinking but he left the room once the tape finished so he must have needed some time alone. Just like Caleb, his relationship with Wyatt was strong and they were partners for the longest time. They knew each other even before everything fell apart. I hope to god he is okay.   
I drew out a shaky breath and slowly let go of Mike and looked up at him. I missed Wyatt so much already. I wish he was here. I wish he was… I never even got to say goodbye to him. 

“I-I’m sorry, Mr. Schmidt… that you have to see me like this.” I spoke softly.   
Mike sighed and grabbed my shoulder in encouragement. “Kid. You just lost something… there’s nothing to be sorry over.” 

“And… I… I thought you hated us.” 

“Well, you guys did send me into a deathtrap called the night guard shift so yeah, I’m pissed at that but… You seem different from the other employees. I don’t know.” 

“I-Is that a compliment or an insult?”

“It’s a compliment you idiot.” Mike chuckled softly. 

“Oh, um…. Th-thanks… I, um, can I make any of this up to you?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Um… y-you’re right. We did throw you into a, a d-deathtrap. And you weren’t expecting this. Of course, you wasn’t and… th-that… that’s terrible and I’m sorry. I-If you want anything, just ask for it and I’ll see what I can do.” 

Mike processed this for a moment before speaking. “Tell me everything. Tell me why those animals are like that, tell me what kind of shady past this place has because I’ve heard a few things but with everything I’ve heard, it’s difficult to have it all straight in my head. At this point, that’s all I want to know. What the hell is going on here.”

I stared at the ground for a moment, thinking through this request and my body shook a little, just thinking about the answer. After several seconds, I slowly nodded. “Yeah, I can do that…”

Mike and I faced each other and I took a moment to try to figure out how to word this. “Way back before Wyatt, Vincent and I ever got this job, there was a small family owned restaurant of this place. It was before everyone knew who Freddy Fazbear was and the restaurant was just a local place for the town kids to enjoy. It was nice for a while but then something terrible happened… Um… one night… as the family was closing the place, they found a dead body right outside the door… that was the first death… s-she was only a young girl…” 

“Wait, someone was killed there? A child?” Mike moved back a little from me, his eyes widen.

I slowly nodded; my voice quiet. “Yeah… the murderer was never found and a family business was destroyed that day. Oh gosh… I wasn’t there but the stories of that event keep me up some nights… Um, the business tried to move on from this event and continue but they couldn’t. Who would want to come to a place where it was known that a child was murdered… no one wanted their kids there and… there was more reasons why the place was closed. The lights would start flickering and there were so many screams and voices from rooms that didn’t have anyone in there… It was almost like the place was-“

“Haunted?” 

“Y-Yeah…”

“…Is that why there’s that other bear that sometimes appear in my office? Um… it looked like Freddy but it was painted yellow and was stumbled over with blackened eyes. It wouldn’t move and… they only disappeared from my office when I looked away from it. Is… is she…”

“No… no I don’t think she is the cause of that…” I could see the confused look on Mike’s face so I decided to continue my story. “Um… going back to the original store… because of the whole place going bankrupt, it couldn’t continue but that was when the boss stepped in. And what he really did was sick… he saw this poor, poor family suffering so he decided to by the whole place for cheap because they would take anything to get this place with a decaying reputation out of their hands so they could move on.

“Um, so a new place was open… actually a few places were opened and around that time Wyatt and Vincent started to work at one of the places too… If I remember correctly, at that specific restaurant there was only two robots. One of them was a golden bear just like the one you described and the other… was a taller golden rabbit. It was doing well but then an accident happened…”

“Another incident?” 

My heart stopped for a moment and I was silent for a moment. “I really don’t want to talk about that one… can we move on?” Mike looked like he wanted to protest but decided that I could skip that part. “Um, yeah so an accident happened and that place shut down as well… And Vincent and Wyatt transferred to a new place and for a few years… the gold rabbit even went with them… everything seemed to be going well… even if the hauntings seemed to follow them where ever they went. At least it was only happening during the nights so none of the kids were getting hurt, right? And that was the time I started working there… it was first a summer job but I decided to work there full-time because at the time, I didn’t know about the past of the place. And I got to know Vincent and Wyatt pretty well. I didn’t have any friends and my family was never around so… they were my family.”

I sighed and stared at the floor, shaking. “And then the incident happened…one of the suits from the formal place… it was the golden rabbit one… Um, it doubled as a robot but also a suit that someone could wear. We used it from time to time on special occasions but… it was a bad idea to use it.O-One day, s-someone stole the rabbit suit…. I honestly don’t know where it is today… a-and… I don’t know who this was… no one knows who it was but… they wore the suit to appear to be nice and friendly and they lured four kids into the back and… and… even more children’s lives were taken under our watch…”

I began shaking so much that I covered my mouth, eyes swelling in my eyes. “We had to close the place… but… but it wasn’t before we realized something… the robots had become restless and were moving around during the night. All of them, Freddy, Chica, Bonnie and Foxy… they were all…. H-haunted… G-Gosh… Th-Those poor souls…”

Mike’s eyes widen. “A-And you let them continue being in this restaurant even though you know those kids are suffering?” 

“Wyatt and I thought about that before and… and we actually decided to have completely different robots entertaining the kids in the next place but… because the originals weren’t in the show… they never got money for repairs and keep-up. It wasn’t good… they started falling apart and w-we didn’t want that… it was clear very soon that we needed to have them actually be entertainers so they could at least suffer less in those suits…

“And the new robots in that location wasn’t doing very well either. That first girl who was killed finally found a home in a marionette robot and the other robots were programmed with a tracker to make sure no one who came into the store would hurt the kids but this program worked very poorly… especially at night. They would see anyone at night as a threat and would attack them… it was very bad. And then one day the bite of ’84- I-I mean, the bite of ’87 happened.”

“What… was that?” 

“I-It’s either someone tampered with the robots or there was a glitch in the programming but the place was getting ready to shut down because something happened. We only had one more birthday party to do and then the place would be closed for good… I guess that lead us to be sloppy in our judgement and to not be careful because one of the robots attacked an employee.”

“I-Is that what Wyatt meant when he said…. How it was surprising someone could live without the frontal lobe on one of the tapes?” Mike said this quietly.

I slowly nodded. “Yeah… that was a terrible day… Just another terrible day to add onto all this terribleness that has happened here. We moved on to a new location again. It was this current location and here the haunted robots were fixed and are allowed to walk around and be free during the night… Yes, they still are full of vengeance and try to attack anyone who is here at night but at least they’re free ish, right?” 

Mike raised an eyebrow at this. “Are you trying to fool me or yourself with that statement?” 

I paused for a moment. “I’m trying to fool myself… It… It’s still very bad here, Mike. It’s so bad. The marionette has disappeared during the move here so now the young girl has no body and is roaming around here alone somewhere… All the kids are still restless and despite everything Wyatt and I have tried to set them free, it hasn’t worked… I just want them to be at peace and be happy but nothing is working. Wyatt wondered if the only way to save them was if they make peace with the person who killed them but… the murderer was never caught and they’re probably in a different country at this point…” 

“You never found out who did it? Shiiiit.” Mike leaned back, processing this. 

“We tried so hard but I don’t think there’s anything we can do… b-but at least we can keep them safe here so that’s why Wyatt decided to take the night guard duty for several years. He wanted to protect them at least… even if they tried to attack him every night and, and th-they eventually…” I fell silent and I stared at the ground, no longer wanting to talk about this. 

Mike noticed this and decided to not ask anymore questions. “Alright…. And…. Thank you for talking to me about this. I think you guys hiding this from me was very shitty but better late than never, I guess.”

“You’re taking this a lot better than I thought…”

“I was starting to get a sneaking suspicion that the robots may have been haunted but… shit… they were kids.” Mike stood up and leaned against a table. 

“I-I’m sorry, dude…” 

“No, I should be telling you that because…” Mike sighed. "I’m quitting.” 

I froze up for a moment before I slowly stared at Mike and I slowly nodded. “I… I understand… S-Sadly this happens a lot…” 

“I can’t just stay in this deathtrap, Jeremy. I have a girlfriend and if I died… she would be all alone out there. But… I’ll stay here one more night. Just so you don’t have to worry about finding another night guard tonight since… shit hit the fan.”

“Th-Thanks, Mike… you’re too good for this place.” I tried to give an encouraging smile to Mike and he only sighed.

“No, no I’m not. You’re the one too good for this place.” Mike placed his hat down on the table and left the break room, with his hands in his pockets, leaving me there to my own thoughts.


	5. An Office with Many Memories

It took me several minutes of sitting on that couch for me to gathering my strength, but finally I was able to slowly stand and stumbled out of the break room. Using the wall to keep myself up, I made my way into the main area of the restaurant, and I leaned against a chair to look over it.

Fazbear’s Pizza… it used to be so full of charm and happiness but today, as the clouds rolling over the sun outside, everything was dark and cold. It only took a few seconds for the storm to start and the rain pellets to begin pounding against the glass pane. Each droplet that hit against the window, sounded like bullets in my ears but I was the only one in the room that reacted to the rain like this. Why did it matter so much to me today how much it rained? It always rained this time of year. I needed to toughen up. 

My body felt chilled and I tried to hug my arms to warm myself. Where did the joy of this place go? Where was it? Where was that sense of wonder and excitement I used to have when I first worked here? I wished to be like the kids who would come here soon to play. I wished to know nothing and to be ignorant again. I wished to run around freely and laugh but I knew those days were long gone.

I slowly looked around and noticed the other workers walking into the kitchen and some of them setting up the prize counter. All were getting ready for the day. They must have come inside when I was talking with Mike in the breakroom. Instead of Caleb, who was the one to usually clean, Vincent was giving one last sweep of the place. He was staring blankly at nothing as he did this. 

Outside, I could see Mike leaning against the wall, hiding under some of the building’s frame to stay out of the rain, and puffing a cigarette before he dropped it onto the ground and crushed it with his foot. He started walking to his car, with his hands over his head to try to stop the rain from soaking him when he noticed someone sitting in a car in the parking lot. The man there had on the same uniform that I did but he didn’t work here. Actually, the longer I looked at him, the sudden realization of who he was hit me. He had freckles across his face and his orange hair spiked up in several directions. He had white framed glasses and was overweight. A giant smile spread across his face, showing off his crooked teeth. 

It was Fritz Smith. I never expected to see him again. 

But why was he here and why was Mike walking into his car and talking to him? Mike then turned to the store and pointed to it like they were talking about us. After a moment, a somber look appeared on Fritz’s face and he turned on his car, staring at the ground. I haven’t seen this man since he worked at the last location for a few days… and now he was talking to Mike for some reason and looking upset. Did Mike tell him about Wyatt just now? 

I started walking towards the front door to see what was happening but I was suddenly called from the front desk. 

I turned around and suddenly someone was attack hugging me. It was Hailey. She was shaking a bit as she gently rubbed my back. My legs almost giving out, I slowly hugged back. 

“I heard what happened…” Hailey spoke quietly. “I’m so, so sorry for your lost.” Her voice was soft and slow. I sunk into Hailey’s hug, staying silent Hailey spoke encouraging words to me. I did my best attempt to not cry again in front of her as I watched Mike and Fritz drive off. 

“Hey, um… after work today, I’m taking you to dinner. I’ll pay for all of it.” Hailey smiled a little, trying to cheer me up.

“Oh, gosh… you’re too kind, Hailey … I… Maybe I’ll do that. Um, but is it okay if I have a rain check if I don’t feel up to it?”

“Of course. Take all the time you need. No one will force you to do anything.”

“Thank you…”

“It’s nothing…” Hailey sighed and looked around. 

“Hey, um… did you see your brother around here? He ran off before I got the news.”

“Yeah, um… he was in the parts room for a bit and I tried to comfort him but he wouldn’t let me come in. I could hear him crying and muttering stuff in there though… He’s not doing good but he isn’t letting me near him… I don’t think he wants me to worry. Too late…” Hailey looked across the room in worry. “But, um, before you came out here, Caleb left the parts room and started walking towards the back.” 

“I didn’t see him when I left.” 

Hailey thought for a moment and then made a panic noise. “Oh no… he’s probably in Wyatt’s old office then.” 

‘I… I should go check on him…”

“Wait… No, I’ll go. I’m his sister so...” 

“Y-Yeah, but… I need to tell him that he can take off work for as long as he wants. The boy deserves a break after everything that happened. I’ll tell you when I’m done talking to him so you can give him all the hugs you want…” 

Hailey stepped back a little and nodded. “Thank you, Jeremy. You are something special. You know that?... I think Wyatt would be proud to see you right now.”  
“W-Wait, really? I haven’t done anything…” 

“Yes, but I have a feeling that you’ll help us all Jeremy. I… I believe in you.”   
I blushed a little and quickly stared at the ground. “Thanks, Hailey … Um, I should probably get going and check on your brother. He’s who we should focus on.” 

“Of course. Of course. Gosh, I hope he’s okay…”

“Me too…” 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

I walked into a room with my eyes closed shut, my only way of know where I was going was the hand that was holding my arm and leading me. Something hit my leg and I almost tripped and fell onto my face but another hand quickly held my shoulder and helped me regain my balance. 

“C-Careful there. We don’t want you losing a tooth… or breaking your nose…. Or something worst.” A worried laugh echoed through my ears and I smiled a little at this.

The hand continued to guide me and soon enough, I entered into a room as I felt something blowing onto my skin on and off again and the floor creaked underneath me. “A-Alright… you, you can open your eyes now.” 

I nodded and slowly did this as light quickly entered into my eyes and I turned around, examining the room I was now in. I chuckled softly. “So, um… you have doors here now. I… I think that’s already an improvement.” 

Standing in front of me, Wyatt laughed a bit. “Yes, I actually put doors in my office. Now the chances of them coming in here is a bit less. If we ignore the blind spots that are right outside of them.” 

I slowly pressed my hand against a monitor and sighed. “So… you’re going to be here every night, watching them?” Wyatt slowly nodded. “I wish you luck… gosh, I barely even survived a week… how are you going to…”

“We will just have to hope, won’t we? Who knows, maybe the kids will take a liking to me and not hurt me instead.” Wyatt weakly smiled as he let himself think this through. “Hopefully we can somehow teach them to be a little less hateful…” 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

It didn’t take long before I was entering Wyatt’s old office, or the office that was being used for the night guards, and I found Caleb sitting on the spinning chair in the middle of the ground. He was sitting in a position that almost made him hug his legs and was holding a screen monitor closely, mimicking what Wyatt would do nightly during his shift. 

The room was a very small rectangular room with the same checkered pattern and dark gray walls with a checkered pattern strip halfway up the wall. There was nothing much behind Caleb except for the wall which was covered with filing cabinets and shelves with many papers on it and a box with had the word ‘Tapes’ written on it in marker on the side. In front of Caleb was a desk that was against the front wall, touching the two corners of the room that was already small. The surface of it was covered in trash, like paper, and a plastic cup from Mike’s midnight snack the night before. There were small screens on the table and a fan that brought the already chilly room to be terribly cold. 

On the left and right walls next to the desk were windows that allowed you to look into the hallway and on the wall behind the desk were children’s drawings and a poster with the three main animatronics on it. I was standing by the door of the office and across from me was another open door which was made out of steel and would have closed downwards to you made it close. Next to these doors were two buttons which closed the door and turned on the light in the hallway, just outside the door. 

These was where Wyatt worked for years, watching over the kids at night and trying desperately to keep himself alive as well. They never learned to like him liked he hoped. And just a few days ago, he failed and this was where he was… How did I not notice the little red dots on the walls until now? He tried to protect the kids until the day he died… 

I wouldn’t let his death be in vain.

I sighed and sat down on the ground across from Caleb, crossing my legs and shaking a little. We sat in silence for a bit as I allowed my young friend to think and take in the situation. I gently took him hand and squeezed it in encouragement. Caleb glanced over at me and slowly put the screen in his hands on the table. We sat in silence for a bit longer as Caleb grabbed my hand with both of his to settle himself into reality. 

He glanced around and whispered. “This was where I meet him every morning. Mostly every morning… sometimes he was busy. Sometimes he would be fine. Other times he was shaken up but I always, always was confident that Wyatt would be safe when I meet him in the morning… and the one day that I have off, is when he dies… We did find out until today…. I-I failed him.”

“W-What… No, no… you failed no one, Caleb. We just all thought that he went somewhere. He does that sometimes, especially when the boss wants something so… y-you’re fine. Y-You’re fine…” 

“I miss him a lot…”

I was silent for a moment. “I miss him too.” 

Caleb took off his hat and started to wring it in his hands. “J-Jeremy, I had to clean up the mess before you arrived here… I-I found where he was and it, it was bad. It was so bad. I never wanted to see him like that… I can’t get the sight of him like that out of my head. H-He looked so bad…” 

A chill went down my spine and I scooted back a little, trying to process what Caleb just said. I slowly covered my mouth, shaking a bit before finally speaking. “Oh gosh…” I slowly hugged my friend tightly. “Why would you do that…. And… and by yourself?”

“I-I didn’t want him to be there any longer and the employees were starting to come here. I needed to do something. What if they close down the place? We can’t allow that to happen again, dude… what if it ends for r-real and they tear up the animatronics. They can’t do that to the poor kids… They can’t. That’s why I did it, J-Jeremy…” Caleb was silent for a moment. A silence passed over us before he whispered softly. “Am I a bad person for covering this up?” 

“I… I wish I knew… I don’t know anymore, kid.” I tried to straighten my thoughts and think through the question. Sure, on paper we could have been seen as criminals or immoral people by still running the business when children’s souls were here and… many nights I stay awake, trying to figure out if we’re doing the right thing. How can we ever know if we’re doing the right thing when no one else has gone through what we have? 

The only reason why we were still running this place was we feared what would happen to those kids if their home and the animatronics got destroyed. We wanted to save them and maybe destroying their bodies would free them? Or maybe it would make it worse. We had no idea and we had to be very, very careful with their lives at stake. Did this make us bad people?

“Gosh, I hope we aren’t bad…” I whispered softly.

“Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t go to jail for this…” 

“I-I know…” I grabbed my hat and tightened it around my hands a little.

“C-Can we change the subject?” 

“Y-Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” I stared at the ground, not knowing what to say so Caleb spoke up. 

“Um… a week ago, when I saw Wyatt here the morning after his shift, he said something to me. He was saying that because he was retiring, that it would be hard for him to still own the place. H-He was tired and, and wanted to rest so he was trying to figure out who would step up and take his place. Yes, there was going to be a night guard but who would own the building… who would be in charge when the boss wasn’t around? Wyatt… H-He said he wasn’t going to be around for much longer… that he was getting old, spending a lot of him life on this place… He didn’t have the same energy he had all those years ago, so someone needed to take his place when he was satisfied with the next night guard.” 

“A-And who was that going to be?” Shaking, I glanced over and I noticed someone in the darkness of the shadows of the hallway, listening to us, his arms crossed. It only took me seeing a strand of purple hair in the light to know who this was. I didn’t say anything or told him to go away since this now involved the both of us. Vincent stayed motionless and quiet as he watched the two of us. At the sound of Wyatt planning to leave the store to someone, Vincent straightened up, like he was expecting something.

I held my hands close together, and slowly breathed out. “He said that?...”

“Y-Yeah. And with the state of how this place is, there would only be two people that Wyatt would trust to leave the restaurant to. And that would be the people who has stayed here the longest… you or Vincent.”

I noticed Vincent’s body shift when this was said. I tried to say something, but the words stuck to my throat. It made sense that Wyatt would do something like this and consider one of us but, gosh, why should he consider me? I haven’t done much here. Have I? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe I did do a decent amount around here, making sure the employees are happy and being a good person to them but besides from that, Vincent did the real work around here… so it was no question who would get the place.

I finally spoke, “Do you know who’s getting the p-place? It… It might be better to know who sooner rather than later…” 

Caleb shook his head and looked towards the cabinets and shelves behind him. “I don’t… But you know how he loves writing stuff down or keeping records on tapes. I bet he has it written down somewhere here.” 

“A-Alright… I, I guess Vincent and I can look through it l-later…” I messed with my hair a bit, feeling uncomfortable with the thought of looking through my dead friend’s stuff. 

It didn’t take soon for Caleb to notice this and he stumbled on his words a little. “W-Well, I’m not doing anything today… the least I can do for giving me the day off is look for the answer for you.” 

“What? Kid, you don’t have to-“

“Come on, Jeremy… you’ll be busy out there during work. You can’t stop me from looking here while you’re working so just say yes.” Caleb crossed his arms and stared at the floor. As we talked, I realized that the shadow of Vincent was slowly walking away from the hall and back into the main area. The place must have been opening. 

I watched this for a moment before I slowly looked over at Caleb. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” 

“Y-Yeah… and I have my radio somewhere here so, I’ll just listen to music and jam out as I do it… so… I can forget about everything, you know?” 

Off in the distance, I heard kids running into the restaurant to have fun and to celebrate as the place opened but I didn’t get up to go help. I watched as Caleb took out a brick sized radio and was messing around with it for a moment to try to get it to play before I slowly spoke up. “Well, the place has opened but, I can stick around for one song.” 

“Dude, you got work to do. Ya sure?” 

“Of course… Um, turn up the radio and, and I’ll sing super loud with you and it will be great!”

“I thought you were too shy to sing out loud.” 

I paused for a moment. “You’re right… um, I-I’ll dance instead.”

“You’re too shy for that too.” 

“Kid… let me just enjoy some company with you.” 

Caleb actually laughed at this and I smiled at the fact that at least Caleb was feeling a little better. Soon Caleb managed to get a song playing and he sang along to it, giving me a wild show as I sat on the seat and watched him, tapping my foot to the music. Somehow, we felt a little better after that.   



	6. Enjoying a Bad Basketball Game

After a few minutes, I left Caleb in the office to allow him to look through the shelves without a distraction while I went to work. Walking down the short hallway took a lot longer then I remembered it usually does and in those few seconds, I glanced around, tears swelling in my eyes again. I quickly stepped into the shadows of the hallway and quickly wiped the tears away from my eyes and focused on controlling my breathing so I wouldn’t break down in front of the children. 

It’s okay. Everything was going to be okay. You are just going to have a normal day of work. You didn’t need to think about Wyatt or how he was dead or how the ownership of this place was going to change… or how you were going to have to find another night guard by tomorrow… I needed to stop thinking. None of this was helping and was only making it worst. All I needed was to focus on work. There was nothing else. 

Grabbing the back of my neck, I slowly breathed out and stepped out of the hallway to see what needed to be done at work. 

There weren’t too many children in the main room since the place just opened a few moments ago, but it was still nice to see some of the children run around, smiling. They were mostly siblings skipping about. Two of them were by the arcade and were at a shooting game. Once their level was over, they high fived each other a lot and I couldn’t help but smile. By the stage, a group of three were standing there, spinning around to the music. Freddy was on stage singing as they rest of the band applauded him. The kids decided to help by singing along as well. They held hands, and swung their arms as they got really into the show. And once the pizza was made and their parents were calling them to come over to the table to eat, they all ran over to dig in. The youngest child stayed behind for a moment and laid a flower by Freddy’s feet and took off behind their siblings. Awe, the kid was congratulating Freddy for doing such a good show. That cheered me up a little. 

I glanced back over to the arcade machines and noticed that there was a lone child by the whack-a-mole. He was beating up all the moles and was working up a sweat as he muttered nasty words to himself and I knew that something was wrong immediately. I started to walk in that direction, almost tripping over some chairs as I did this. 

Before I could go to see if the kid was okay, Vincent suddenly appeared from behind a machine, smiling softly at the kid in front of him. He started talking gently to him, asking if he was okay. I quickly stepped back to allow Vincent talk to the child, as I sat by a booth nearby and watch them to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. Vincent noticed me and his smile twitched for a moment. Vincent crouched down so he could talk to the boy who was slowly dropping the hammer to the game and speaking very softly. And then Vincent took the boy’s hand and brought him over to the prize counter where he gave him a free balloon. I couldn’t help but smile at that. 

And soon the boy was running off to continue his fun adventure at Freddy Fazbear’s and Vincent watched him go, his smile fading a little. Vincent put his hands in his pockets and he started to walk over to the stage area to see if everything was working properly. I tried waving to Vincent but I guess he didn’t see me as he continued on his narrow path to check if everything was running smoothly over there. 

I sighed and slowly let my hand fall to my side. I glanced around and tried to think about what exactly I needed to do since my job was literally help when things were needed but from here, I could see that the front desk and the prize counter was running smoothly and there was no lack of workers today for once. The animatronics seemed to be working just fine and if they weren’t, Vincent was already there to help… and I was bad with machines anyway so only Vincent could really do anything. Maybe the kitchen needed some help. 

I stood up and started walking in that direction, when someone poked me from behind. I squeaked and quickly looked behind me to find a small kid who was trying her best to speak but was too shy to. She opened her mouth but then quickly closed it as she hid in her very large jacket. 

I lowered myself down to face the kid and I spoke very gently. “Hello there. I’m Jeremy. I work here if you need anything.” The girl watched me through her jacket. “Um… you don’t need to say anything if that makes you feel better.” The girl slowly nodded and started to relax. “And if there’s a problem, all you need to do is take me to it and I’ll see what I can do.” 

I slowly brought out his hand and the girl watched me for a moment before she slowly took my hand and started to bring me towards the arcade. The girl was still very shy so I filled the empty air with words. I spoke about how I used to have a dog when I was a kid and the girl nodded when I asked if she had pets. I then told the story about how the dog once brought home a leather coat and how I guessed that he probably stole it from a biker. 

“So, I guess that even big, scary, tough bikers could be taken down my dog. He’s a champ I tell ya.” I smiled and the girl giggled softly, as she almost started skipping. 

Soon, the girl brought me to one of the basketball games and she tried putting her tokens into the game but it wouldn’t work. She makes a sad noise at this and pokes me, asking for help. I nodded and quickly examines the machine and it only took him a few minutes to realize what was wrong. 

I picked up a plug and smiled. “I found the problem.” The girl cheered at this. “The game wasn’t plugged in for some reason. All I need to do is plug it in and you can play basketball all you want.” I smiled and did exactly that.

As soon as the machine turned on and booted up, I gave the girl a few tokens in exchange for the ones she lost on this game and started to leave. But then the girl grabbed my hand and tried to pull me towards the game again. I tilted me head. “Everything alright?”

The girl pointed to the game again. 

“Is the game still broken?” 

The girl shakes her head and slowly handed me a basketball and pointed to the game again.

“Oh, um… do you want me to play?”

The girl nodded.

I chuckled softly and slowly took the ball. “Sure, I can play a round. But I need to warn you that I’m pretty bad at these kinds of games.” 

The girl shrugged.

I smiled a little bit and I put a token into the machine and I tried my best to throw the basketballs into the hoop a few feet away from me. As expect, I kept missing as most of the basketball kept hitting the side of the hoop and falling down. I did manage to make one throw and I silently celebrated to this. About halfway through the game, the girl noticed how badly I was doing and stepped next to me so she could help. We laughed a bit as we were both equally bad but at least the girl managed to get a few in with me. And soon enough the game finished and we won five tickets for the prize counter… which wasn’t a lot but considering how bad we were doing this was a victory. 

The girl cheered and I high-fived her. The girl quickly hugged me before she ran off to show off the tickets to her family. I smiled way too brightly before I was alone once again. 

Gosh, I hope Wyatt was proud of me. He was always so good with kids and knew exactly how to make them smile. I remembered one time during a birthday party, as an employee was bringing the cake up to a family, the employee tripped and fell to the floor, the cake scattering across the floor. The birthday boy started to have tears swell in his eyes and was shaking a lot as his birthday was ruined but Wyatt stepped in. As the employees quickly ran off to make another cake, Wyatt entertained the boy by saying he was Freddy’s special guest today and gave him about 25 free tokens and a top hat that looked exactly like Freddy’s.

The boy perked up a little and wanted to really know if he was a special guest and Wyatt nodded. Wyatt brought the boy over to the stage and told him to sing along with Freddy for he was now a part of the show. The boy giggled and did exactly that as the boy’s parents watched and cheered him on. This was the perfect distraction for the kid and soon enough, another cake was made for him. The boy hugged Wyatt and quickly ran to the table where they sung him happy birthday and the boy got the biggest slice of cake… he was allowed to have.   
I couldn’t help but smile a little at the memory as I glanced around the store and couldn’t help but know how much it has fallen apart over the years. I knew Wyatt felt ashamed of what this place turned into but we both knew we could never go back to those glory days, never again. 

At least I could try to help get these kids some peace now that he was gone.   
I sighed and suddenly someone patted my back and I squeaked, looking over. How did Vincent get here without me hearing him? “Hey dude. While you were slacking off and playing that game with the kid, the kitchen requested some help.” 

“Oh, really? I’m usually a lot better at noticing that.” 

“Well, I’m the one to tell you that help is needed for once. Haha! I beat you!” Vincent playfully punched my arm and I squeaked in pain. 

“Um, yep. You did it. For once in your life.” I chuckled but Vincent didn’t like the joke as he suddenly started growling. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Um… it meant nothing, Vinc. I was just joking.” 

“Oh, yeah sure. Just don’t make fun of me like that again. Let’s make some pizzas or whatever.” Vincent rolled his eyes and quickly started walking towards the kitchen, without saying another word to me as I looked around in confusion.   
Did I say something wrong? Crap, I said something wrong. Oh no… I didn’t mean to do that. This wasn’t the time or place to get people upset at each other. I needed to shut up and to be careful. I couldn’t say anything to Vincent that might hurt his feelings. After all we were supposed to be friends and partners, even if Vincent didn’t treat me like one sometimes.

I sighed and quickly followed Vincent into the kitchen where I put on an apron and a hair net and washed my hands. By the time I got all of this done, Vincent was already directing some of the cooks on how to be faster at their jobs and I quickly stood up next to Vincent, glancing around.

“Alright, what do we need to do?” I whispered softly and felt out of place for once in my life working here. Usually it was Vincent asking these things. Why was I so out of it today? Well the answer was simple but I didn’t want to acknowledge it.   
“Someone just ordered a cake so a chef or two is going to be making that so we got to make pizzas to help them not fall behind.” 

“Alright, sounds easy enough.”

“But is it really?” Vincent chuckled.

“Um, it is?” 

“Damn, you never play along with my jokes. You need to lighten up sometime friend.” Vincent laughed and playfully punched my arm which I said ‘ow’ to. It was weird seeing Vincent all smiley and joking around considering what happened this morning. Was Vincent really okay or was he just playing around to make it seem like he was? I tried to read his face but all Vincent did was smile and I couldn’t tell what emotions he was hiding under it. I wanted to help him but how was I supposed to when Vincent wouldn’t even let anyone else see what he was feeling?

I sighed and I started making the pizzas when the orders came in. Vincent slid next to me to help. What we needed to do was simple and fairly easy as we spread out the dough onto a pan, spread the red sauce onto the dough and sprinkled cheese on top of that. And then we put more toppings like pepperoni and ham on top if that was requested before we put it in the oven. It was pretty simple and we didn’t make the best pizzas in the world but they were still acceptable here. And soon enough, Vincent and I made a line where he would do the first half and I did the second half. 

We worked like this for several minutes before I breathed out and I worked up the confidence to speak. “So, I was talking to Caleb earlier and he was talking about how he knew that Wyatt was going to give this place to someone and it was most likely going to be one of us. What are you thinking about that because for me, I have no idea?” 

“Well, I overheard that entire conversation…”

“Oh, huh? I didn’t see you.” My voice was quiet as I lied.

“Yeah, so I heard everything about how either you or I was going to go up the ranks and… well, be the main force with getting this place back in order and to help those who need it… because the boss doesn’t do shit.” We both knew Vincent was referring to the ghosts but with other people in the kitchen, he kept it vague. “And honestly, I think that would be me. I’ve been here for longer and I know about the robots and how they work a lot better so… No offense against you but, I think Wyatt has a lot of trust in me and that he will choose me. It only makes sense. Ya know?”

I thought this through and slowly nodded. “Yeah, I understand. I was here for a while too but what can I do here that you can’t? S-So, yeah. Wyatt trusted me but honestly I think you would be a lot better at that job.”

A chef looked over, frowning. “But, Jeremy, we all love ya dude. Honestly, if you owned the place, I think everyone would love that.” Some of the other chefs overheard this and they quickly nodded in excitement and said several words of agreement and compliments towards me. I couldn’t help but blush as I looked away, staying silent and continuing the work as Vincent looked over the others, his eyes twitching a little. He sighed and then left the room after making his last pizza. 

I watched him leave as I was still finishing up my pizza and I turned to the chefs a bit disappointed. “You guys hurt his feelings. He wants to be the boss… Um, probably more then I even want to…”

“Yeah, but he sucks.”

“Not really?...” I was quiet as I tried to defend Vincent against the co-workers. We couldn’t be saying this kind of stuff to each other. Not today when everything was already going downhill.

The chef rolled his eyes. “Really because we all see how he treats you sometimes. It’s not a good sight seeing him making you not joke around or speak your mind? He does the same to us you know. And sure, he might be “more knowledgeable” on how this place runs but I would rather follow you. At least you make it feel like this place is ran on a team effort and it’s not all about yourself.” The other workers nodded and seemed to agree with the first chef and I was quiet as I put my pizza in the oven.

“Just what I’m trying to say is that personally, I think you’re going to own this building. And when you do, I will be glad along with many other people here.” 

I couldn’t help but blush with this and I kicked the ground a little. “Thank you all… um, no matter what happens, I will still do what is best for this place.” 

The chef smiled at this and patted my back before I decided to let myself out of the kitchen so I could continue working. The workers seemed to cheer me on as I left and I stared at the ground, not knowing how to respond.

Soon I was out of the kitchen, where I meet Vincent right outside, leaning against the wall and hiding behind his hat a little. I slowly waved to Vincent and he returned the jester before speaking softly. “Everyone hates me here…” 

I was silent for a moment. “I don’t hate you.”

Vincent glared at me and whispered. “You’re only saying that because you’re scared, I might do something.” I took too long to try to respond so Vincent continued talking, a bit annoyed. “Look, kid. We just go about this work completely different and the way I do things is just making me look like a bad guy… You are a shy ball of energy but you have to ask others for help all the time and you make everyone feel good because of it. You make them feel wanted and shit… I can’t believe I’m saying this to describe you but that’s important. And because of that, everyone loves you!” Vincent gave a tired laugh. “I already know everything here. I like doing things by myself because if you want something done right, you do it yourself. If you want something to be a certain way, you make it happen. 

“I have so many ideas for this place, Jerms.” Vincent tiredly sighed. “So many plans that will completely change this place! I need to own this place though if that’s going to happen. Do… you trust me?”

“Um, just a little.”

“Heh, better than I expected…. But you know that I need this place. I want this place…” Vincent looked over to the side and I stared at the ground, trying to figure out what to say, but I couldn’t before Caleb suddenly walked out of the hallway and noticed us not too far away. I slowly waved to Caleb and he smiled a little, walking over to us, Vincent just turned away, crossing his arms. 

Caleb forced a smile as he saw Vincent turn away and he hugged himself a little. “Um, hey guys… Should I come back later?”

I almost gave Caleb a nod but then Vincent spoke up, with no emotion in his voice. “No, no. Say whatever you need to say. I’m just being a pathetic slum that needs to get over himself.” Caleb and I looked at each other, nervously and not knowing what else to do. 

Caleb bit his lip, thinking for a moment before he decided to speak up. “Well, I was looking through all the files and I found what I was looking for. Wyatt did leave a note saying who he was giving this place to. Um, want to walk to the office and I’ll tell you guys everything when we’re there.”

Despite, Caleb speaking softly to us, many of the employees around us looked over when they saw us together, like they knew right away what was going on and they leaned towards us trying to overhear our conversation. Vincent noticed all these people and growled softly as they began to mutter something to each other. 

I awkwardly started playing with my hair. “Yeah, Caleb … we can do that. That might be for the best.” 

Caleb slowly nodded and started to lead the way to the office and Vincent followed close behind, his arms crossed tightly around him. I stayed behind for a moment, looking across the place and one of the employees gave me a thumbs-up. They all wanted me to own this place it seemed like but if I did, I would have no idea what to do. Didn’t they see that? I would probably fail all of them so why did they have such high hopes for me. I stayed there for too long thinking this when Caleb and Vincent reached the entrance to the hallway and I was still by the kitchen. Caleb looked over and called after me. I squeaked softly and quickly took one last look around the restaurant before I followed.


	7. A Microphone Key Charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There will be implied and a little self harm in this chapter

Once at the office, the three of us crammed ourselves inside which was probably as I sat in the chair, Vincent sat on the table and Caleb stood between the two of us. I glanced around the office again, expecting the back shelves to be a mess but they were in perfect condition. Caleb didn’t dare to make a mess with Wyatt’s things. Wow, he really was a good janitor. We sat there for a moment as Caleb tried to figure out what to say but then we noticed the employees glancing down the hallway, watching us in wonder hoping to hear what would happen to this precious place. 

“I’m closing the doors.” Vincent sighed and the two of us nodded at this. Vincent jumped up from the desk and pressed a button on both sides of the office room by the doorways. The metal bolted doors fell from the ceiling and slammed onto the floor, closing up the room so no one can listen in. They were still able to look inside through the windows but when one employee tried to do this, Vincent’s hand pounded against the glass and the employee yelped, quickly running away. 

Vincent sat back on the desk and almost hugged his legs as he looked between Caleb and I. The air was growing thick as I sat in the chair, holding onto the arms tightly, and trying not to think about the horrors that has been through this room. I drew a shaky breath and I focused on nothing else but Caleb. I watched him rocking on his feet and him slowly putting his hat on his head. I glanced back towards Vincent and he was just brushing his purple hair with his fingers, not sure what to do anymore. 

Finally, after several minutes Caleb built up the courage to speak. “Alright, so I found a lot of stuff there. Very old stuff but some of it was also a week old, before Wyatt was…Y-Yeah. I found a notebook- a journal! I skipped to the back of it to read the last few things that he wrote and he was considering the both of you a lot. Like he was having a very hard time figuring it out.” Caleb slowly took out a notebook and flipped to the last few entries. Vincent perked up and tried to look over Caleb ’s shoulder to read it but he failed too. 

I spoke softly. “And… did he make a decision?” 

Caleb slowly nodded. “He was talking about how he felt like he needed to make a decision now because he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to later… this… this was his last entry.” Vincent and I sat up straight when we heard this and we glanced at each other, not knowing what else to think but Wyatt was somehow able to feel his death coming before it did. 

“I know… it’s a little spooky…” Caleb spoke softly, “but, he did make his decision. He must have thought that I would find this notebook if he couldn’t tell you guys this himself.” 

“And did you or did you not?” Vincent said impatiently. 

Caleb slowly nodded. “Yes, um… I did. And…”

As Caleb stumbled on his words a little, I saw as Vincent perked up, expecting to hear his name and he leaned in close to Caleb, wanting the happy news. I on the hand, stared down at the ground, shaking a little. I didn’t know if I was ready to hear what the result was and wither or not it was going to be good or bad. It seemed almost obvious that Vincent would get the place for he would know what he was doing and he was here longer then I was. He could be a demanding and serious boss while I doubted my abilities too. It was too bad of a nervous wreck. The thought of being a boss made me even more scared so why would I ever get this place. It didn’t seem possible… but then Caleb said the name of who Wyatt wanted to leave this place to. 

“It’s Jeremy. He decided on Jeremy… I’m sorry Vincent but um, congrats Jeremy.” He slowly took something out of his pocket and tossed it to me. I squeaked and I quickly caught what was thrown to find that it was a ring of keys, all of them for this building. There was a microphone key charm on it and many of the keys were shiny and clean except for one that was rusty and has an x drawn on it with marker. I stared at the keys, shaking a bit as Caleb continued. “Um… I found those in a drawer by the notebook…” 

Vincent just sat there for several moment, his hands clenching onto the desk as his teeth grinding together as I could see the gears in his brain coming to a halt and sluggishly starting up again when the news was given. 

I looked over at him, shaking in fear a bit as I spoke softly. “V-Vincent?”

Vincent quickly got onto his feet without acknowledging me. He examined the two of us, trying to form words and figure out what to say but he soon gave up and pushed one of the buttons to open the door. “I’m going to take a walk…”

He tries to walk out of the office but was met with a lot of employees all gathered around the door, trying their best to hear what was going on through the door. They were met with the sight of me holding keys close to my chest and Vincent standing by the door, his eye twitching and tears swelling. The employees noticed this and some of them started smiling widely but then Vincent growled and pushed pass the employees to get out of the office. He was probably heading outside to walk and maybe take a smoke. The employees looked over at me when Vincent left and gave me a thumbs up before Caleb started speaking. 

“Hey, um can the two of us talk and such without you all here? Also, the work day isn’t over. There’s kids out there who is probably tearing down the claw machines as we speak.” That got the employees attention as they quickly got up and started walking back to their posts. As they walked past us, some of the employees gave me their congratulations and I just slowly nodded at this, staying completely silent since the news was given. 

Once they were all gone, Caleb closed the door again and sat down on the desk, staying quiet to allow myself to think though what just happened. Wyatt had picked me. Out of everyone who was so much better at their job and could run this place better, he picked me. He had Vincent, the person who knew everything about this place and he still chose me for some reason. What did I do to deserve this title? Was there something that I was missing? What did he see in me because I sure had no idea what it was?

I hugged the keys closely and looked at Caleb before speaking softly. “I own this place…” Caleb slowly nodded. “What do I do? I don’t know how to run a place like this.” 

“We can figure it out together, man. And we’ll just run the place like we usually do and get a new night guard. No one is expecting you to make decisions right away since he’s gone… but we’re all here backing you up. Most of us like you and want you to succeed so we’re going to help.” 

I looked up at Caleb and a slight smile spread across my face. “Thank you so much… you’re too kind to me.” 

“That would suggest that there is a limit.” Caleb patted my shoulder and I couldn’t help but be so grateful that I had friends like him and Hailey by my side. I honestly wouldn’t know what to do if they weren’t here supporting me. 

I smiled and took Caleb’s shoulder thinking a little bit. Maybe I could at least try to do good at this job because everyone was looking up to me and my friends believed I could do it. Maybe. Just maybe. I just needed to think of a plan. I gave Caleb a quick hug to thank him for everything that he has done for us and Caleb just shrugged. I then told him that he can take his day off now because he still never did when I released him this morning but all he said was that he was going to wait in the break room for his sister to get out of work. 

I slowly nodded at this and placed the keys in my pocket. “I might just take my lunch break early so I can clear my head due to all of this.” 

“Yeah, dude. Do that. I don ‘t think anyone will blame you.” 

“Again, thanks for looking around here and helping so much. You deserve something special.” 

“You too dude. You too…”

Caleb and I exchanged some more words to each other before I sighed and I walked off to take my lunch break. The moment I stepped out into the main area of the building, all the other employees started to clap and cheer for me while Vincent was no where in sight. 

I was worried when I noticed this and I slowly walked to the window, slowly waving to the people who were congratulating me. The families who were here didn’t know what was happening but yet they still clapped for me. The animatronics on the stage was cycling through their normal song and dance numbers but even they seemed proud of me for some reason. 

The glitchy voice of Freddy echoed throughout the room and I flinched for a moment. “I-I-It’s time for a celebration.” 

I forced myself to look out the window so I could attempt to find Vincent and honestly, it wasn’t very hard. He was simply standing a few stores down the road, leaning against a tree. I was correct in my guess that he was smoking and, this was bad. Very bad. Vincent never smoked during work hours. He wasn’t allowed to smoke during work hours and he only did it when something was wrong. I slowly held the keys that laid in my pockets and shook a little. 

I closed my eyes to think for a moment. It was clear that Vincent really wanted to own this place. He had ideas and plans and probably just wanted to help but everyone here disliked him, even the person he was working with for years. That’s probably what he was thinking right now and I couldn’t blame him for being so mad. If I was in that position too, I would be mad too.

I watched Vincent for a moment and then squeaked in fear when instead of dropping his cigarette on the concrete floor and stomping it out, he pressed the butt of it against his forearm to burn it out. I quickly looked at Vincent’s face to try to figure out what he was thinking but his expressing was neutral. He didn’t flinch in pain when he did this or seemed upset but when I looked back down at Vincent’s arm, I realized the scaring on his forearm and how this probably wasn’t the first time he’s done this. Vincent then quickly covered his arm with his long shelve and started walking towards the building.

I quickly stepped back, shaking a bit and in a panic, I walked over to the front desk to order myself some food as I processed what I just saw. Did Vincent just… Does he… I was getting more worried by the second. 

Hailey saw how pale I was and inched as close as she could to me, even though she was standing behind the counter. “Hey, you alright? You took one look out the window and you looked like you wanted to vomit.” 

That was when Vincent walked into the building, his hands in his pockets. He muttered something, apologizing for suddenly leaving the building, a smell of smoke following him. He didn’t say much before he went back to work and my sight didn’t leave him for a good few seconds. Hailey looked between us and the worry on her face increased.

Before she could ask anything, I faked a smile and I ordered a salad. Hailey slowly nodded and put the order in, examining me for a moment before speaking again. “Did you see Vincent do something? You were staring at the dude for pretty long. What happened?”

I stumbled on my words for a bit. “I’m not exactly sure. I… I’m just try to process everything that happened over the past 30 minutes and it’s a lot, I’ll tell you that.” My body started shaking as my skin felt cold and chilled. Something whispered in my ear and I quickly looked behind me but… nothing was there. Was I hearing things again? Hailey placed a salad on the counter and I quickly picked it up, still looking around for that voice. 

“Jeremy? Jeremy? Hey, you okay?” 

I squeaked and I quickly looked back over at Hailey, who was looking at me extremely worried and was trying to pull me back into reality. I focused myself to breath slowly as I put down the salad and covered my arms with my long shelves in an attempt to warm myself back up. I quickly picked up the salad again and sighed.

It took me a moment to speak to Hailey again. “I… I’m going to need a few minutes to just relax and think about all of this if that’s okay…” 

“What? Of course, it’s fine. You don’t need permission to go think. A lot of this was dropped onto you so I doubt anyone would be mad that you needed a minute.” 

I slowly nodded before softly speaking. “And please keep a close eye on Vincent. I think he’s doing very, very badly and he might need some help.”

“Um, sure. I don’t know him that well but I can check in on him during my break if you like.” 

“Thanks, Hailey. You’re the best…”

“I would argue and say that you are but you already seem tired enough so we’ll debate that later.” Hailey chuckled softly and I couldn’t help but laugh too.   
We then said our goodbyes and I started walking towards the break room but halfway there, I paused. Vincent was probably in there being grumpy and I didn’t know what I should even say to him. I was worried for his well-being of course but how do I bring that up? And even if Vincent wasn’t in there, what about the other employees. They would just cheer me on and congratulate me, maybe even throw a party. I didn’t need that right now. I didn’t want that. I knew everyone was happy for me but one of my best friends had just died and I was suddenly thrust into this situation and I didn’t want to be here anymore. I didn’t want to exist and if I couldn’t have that, could I just please go home and hide under my covers. Please. 

Of course, I couldn’t run away now. Today was already lacking employees because everyone was falling apart. Kids were celebrating birthdays and good grades and if I ran out of here, then the place would just have to close… I didn’t want those kids to be upset. Hailey would be upset at me that I wasn’t worrying about my own health and was sacrificing it for others but whatever. Wyatt did this every day of his life so, I should follow in his footsteps and make him proud, right?

I sighed and finally decided to sit down on one of the long tables close to the stage. I poked my food for a bit as I tried to work through my thoughts and I couldn’t help but think that maybe I was trapped. I wanted to help these kids so bad. I wanted to help this place flourish. I wanted to make Wyatt happy with what this place has done but there really wasn’t anything I could do, was there? I was trapped in this same old place with the same old schedule. 

I was trapped like Wyatt. He tried his best to smile and say things would get better but they never did. He could never figure out what to do. Was I supposed to make the difference somehow or would I also be doomed to try so hard but fail at bringing these kid’s peace?

I looked onto the stage and looked at the animatronics and then I glanced over at Pirate’s Cove where Foxy was still hiding and I shivered. Gosh, why the hell was I complaining about being trapped when I could at least go home at night. I choose to be trapped here when I could have quit a long time ago but I wanted to help this place. I wanted to help these kids. Don’t confuse your feelings anymore, Jeremy. You weren’t the one here that was trapped. You never were. 

It was these poor kids whose life was taken away. It was these poor kids who could never see their homes or families again. They were the trapped ones for they have been in their cages for decades and we still didn’t know how to free them. I reached out to the robots, almost wanting to hug them, to tell them that it was going to be okay that one day they will be free and at peace… that they didn’t have to be scared anymore. They would be free- like how balloons were when they were released into the sky.

I wish I could tell them that but was it true? Could I find a way to release them? I hoped so but what could I do that Wyatt couldn’t all these years. I sighed and glanced around thinking. What could I do… What could I do… there wasn’t much that I could do except maybe… Maybe if we found out who casted this curse on this place, then we could free them. If we found the murder and gave him justice, then maybe that will free the kids. 

I quickly finished eating my food and looked up at the robots one last time. I was going to do that. That’s what I was going to do with this power. I was going to find that killer so these kids could finally, finally be at rest. That is what Wyatt would have wanted.


	8. A Secret Door Behind the Wallpaper

For the rest of the day, I tried my best to ignore the employees and people around me for they were happy for me but it was still hard to smile during this day. As the hours passed, I decided to do Caleb’s usual job as he was taking Scooter’s death pretty badly and even though he didn’t go home for the day, I didn’t dare tell him to work. That was cruel. I will just push pass my feelings for now and think through the events of today, when I was home, by myself. Everyone was probably worried about me when I was cleaning the tables all by myself and staring off into space but if they said anything to me, I blocked it out so I couldn’t tell.

The day went by slowly and I only smiled when a kid walked up to me and asked for help with something. I should get kids one day… maybe when all of this madness was over. 

Even during my breaks, I tried my best to continue working because if I stopped, even for 15 minutes, my thoughts and fears would creep up on me. I knew what needed to be done in order to free those kids but how was I supposed to do that? The murderer could have been several states away or even in a different country but that didn’t matter to me. I would find them, somehow… but not now. Please, just for the rest of the day, let me relax and calm down so I could have a clear head. 

Hailey wouldn’t let me miss my breaks though and after three straight hours of cleaning whatever I could find or helping the kids, she finally grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me away from the main room and into the breakroom. I tried to break away from Hailey, saying that someone had split a glass and I needed to clean it but Hailey wouldn’t have it. “Jeremy… friend, buddy… you’ve been doing a lot of work today already. Let someone else take care of that.”

“But… no?” I tried my best to defend myself but I had nothing.

Hailey rolled her eyes and got me to the breakroom where there were only a few employees talking and Vincent was standing in the corner of the room, staring at the radio, just listening to whatever songs were playing. Hailey made me sit at a couch and I sighed.

“You will thank me later for this, my friend. You don’t want to accidentally hurt yourself by working too much… do you?” 

I thought through this before I slowly shook my head. Getting myself exhausted or hurt wouldn’t help those kids at all, so Hailey sadly did have a point. I wish she didn’t. I wished to just continue working until I passed out and I couldn’t think anymore because I was sleeping but that wouldn’t do any good. 

I looked up at my friend and silently said. “Thank you… for looking out for me.” 

“It’s nothing… and I don’t want to see you leaving this room until your break is completely over, got it?” 

“Understood.” I smiled a little for I couldn’t be mad or upset with Hailey for too long because just her presences made me feel a little better. But then Hailey had to go back to work so I was alone with my thoughts on the couch, something I didn’t want to happen. 

I quickly stood up and ignoring the other employees there, and I walked over to Vincent. Even though he was currently mad and probably didn’t want to talk to me, I was the person he knew the longest here so speaking to him would help, right? 

Vincent noticed me walking over and growled softly but he didn’t push me away. Vincent was silent, but when the other employees realized that I wanted to talk to Vincent, they slowly left the breakroom. Maybe out of fear? I didn’t know. I stood next to my friend for a moment and we stood there in silence, taking in the area and hearing a softly ceiling fan turn around in circles, over and over again destined to stay on that one path. 

Vincent examined me for a moment and noticed that I was doing nothing but watching a fan run around in circles so he sighed. “I guess I should congratulate you or whatever… um, getting those keys and wherever the deed is pretty cool. I really can’t help but admit that I’m really, really jealous.” 

“Oh… um, honestly… I don’t think too much will change out of this.” I lied to myself, trying to calm myself down. “We’re both here, wanting to work towards the same goal and to do the right thing… right? I might own the place but I’ll need the help from you and everyone else to do what we need to.” 

“So, you’re like a middle man?”

“I… excuse me?” I stepped back.

“You’re the middle man. You’re in charge but can’t do much so if someone asked you for help with repairing the robots or something, you would have to go to me and ask for help. It would just be a lot easier if you were taken out of the equation and I was already there to begin with.” 

“I guess but Wyatt wanted this… for some reason and we need to respect his wishes.”

“I’ll go along with his wishes and I understand that you own this place until you give it to someone or you die but that doesn’t mean I have to respect it. I thought he respected me, but we all see how that turned out.” 

“Hey, just because you… you didn’t g-get the place doesn’t mean he didn’t respect you.”

Vincent started laughing at this, grabbing hold of his hair. “Stop lying to my like that, you son of a gun. We know exactly what Wyatt was thinking when he picked you over me. He doesn’t think I’m good enough for him.” Vincent then whispered to himself. “And that may have been the best decision.” 

“Vincent… don’t say something like that. There’s probably a lot better reason why he didn’t choose you. Don’t say it was for the best.” 

I gently took Vincent’s shoulder and he quickly pushed me away, his eyes narrowed. “Don’t touch me. Never, ever touch me!”

I quickly stepped back. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-“ 

“Yeah, you don’t mean a lot of things. Why exactly did you come here? Did you want to rub in my face that you won or something? Because I wanted to be alone. I wanted to be away from you because I am upset and jealous and I need to clear my head so… please… do not follow me.” Vincent glared straight into my soul and I quickly backed up, feeling my lungs tighten against itself. 

I quickly gave a nod. “I understand… I’m sorry. I’ll stay here. You don’t need to worry about me following you. Just please, take care of yourself. I don’t want to see you like this. It makes me worried.” I spoke barely above a whisper. 

“Good, good. I probably won’t be back for the rest of the day.” Vincent sighed and turned away to storm out of the breakroom. I stayed standing in place, shaking a little and not knowing what to do. There wasn’t much I really could do as I glanced over at the clock and noticed that my break was almost over. 

Good, I didn’t want to be standing here and thinking to myself after all of that. I needed a break from breaks. Hailey would probably be upset to hear that her forcing me to sit down didn’t help at all.

I sighed and slowly walked out of the breakroom, my hands in my pockets and soon, I was going back to work for the rest of the day Not too much happened over the net few hours. I did the normal things that needed to be done but with Vincent gone for the day, I had to pick up the pace and work a little faster. I liked this a bit for it was a distraction from thinking and always walking on my feet and exercising was probably good for me. I didn’t take another break for the rest of the day even if Hailey probably wanted me to and the only time I really slowed down was when the kids needed help with something and I eventually played at least one game with me. I was glad that gave me a little bit of a smile.

And soon, the day had ended for we decided to close a little early. The sun was just over the horizon, giving the sky an orange color during the dusk. The sunlight fell through the window and onto my skin as I lingered by the window, watching the last few customers leave the parking lot. I sighed and looked down at my hands, taking in my surroundings. 

Hailey then reached out from behind me and slowly took my shoulder. “Hey, dude. How are you doing?”

I couldn’t help but shrug as Caleb walked up behind Hailey and slowly waved to me. I guess he never left here despite me giving him the day off and he too patted my shoulder. Darn, I couldn’t help but smile at my friends being too good to me. “Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. I don’t deserve you two.” 

Caleb tilted his head. “I feel like I have to argue that.”

“Please don’t. I’m too tired to argue with you two.” 

“Alright. I’ll just take this as a win and call it a day.” Caleb chuckled a little and I couldn’t help but join him a little.

Hailey softly spoke. “Um, so… if you want… Caleb and I are going to go pick up some food if you want anything. It might help a little but you don’t need to do anything if you don’t want to.” 

I weakly smiled at this. “Thank you but… I-I’m going to have to decline. I want to look around here for a bit and then I just want to get home and sleep. Sorry.”

“What? Jeremy, don’t apologize for that. We understand perfectly. You don’t need to feel like you have to say sorry for that… just please. Take care of yourself. That’s all any of us wants you to do at this point.” 

Caleb patted my shoulder some more. “And we can get that food some other time if you want. There’s no rush.” 

I looked between my friends again before attack hugging the both of them. Both Caleb and Hailey seemed confused by this at first but they slowly returned the hug. Hailey’s hug was gently and caring while Caleb gave me the tightest hug he could manage and I smiled a little. “You both are great. Please take care of yourselves tonight.” 

“You too.” Hailey whispered. 

After a minute or two, we all let go of the hug and gave each other a supportive nod before Hailey and Caleb left the building. I stayed by the window and waved my goodbyes to them as I watched them drive off through the curtains and once, I couldn’t see their car anymore, my hand slowly fell to my side. I sighed and watched the cars drive down the road for a moment before I slowly started covering the windows with the worn-out curtains that was there. I hummed softly, trying my best to ignore my thoughts in this quiet building. I just needed to quickly walk around this place and see if I should bring anything home or if it will help me with my mission to get these kids free somehow.

I sighed and I glanced back over at the stages. In a few hours, the kids will be able to move around on their own again, but did they really know what was happening. Did they even have their minds and human thoughts when they roamed around or were they just ruthless monsters. 

Tears swelled in my eyes at this thought and I quickly climbed up onto the stage and spoke softly as I gently took Freddy’s shoulder. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know if they could hear me or if I looked very dumb as I stood here but I needed to say something. Something to them. Something to help them through all this hardship so they knew they weren’t alone that someone cared about them and was trying to help them, even if it was taking a very long time.

I whispered softly to Freddy, “Thanks for being such a good leader. Soon, you’ll be able to rest and you won’t have to worry about keeping everyone happy ever again. You can be happy for yourself.” 

I slowly turned to Bonnie and mindlessly strummed his guitar as I looked at his static eyes that wouldn’t move. “Kid… gosh, you can shred it on the guitar pretty well. I wish I had your talent but… you probably don’t like the spotlight that much, do you? That’s perfectly fine. I don’t like it either even though we’ve both found ourselves in it. I promise I’ll get you out of it though. I promise.”

I slowly turned to Chica and I held her hand a little in encouragement, even though I knew the stagnated body could not hold it back. “So, you’re one of the only girls here, huh. Everyone only sees you as that… that you’re sweet and you love pizza a lot and they leave it at that. You don’t even have an instrument for this band and I’m sorry that no one else can see you beyond that. We’ll make sure that you’ll be seen as someone different than Chica… that you’re full of life and energy.” 

I awkwardly gave all the animatronics a tight hug and reassured them one last time before I slid off the stage. I glanced back at the three before having my attention towards Pirate’s Cove and walked over there. I didn’t push the curtains to the side to get a look the fox who stood inside. Instead, I sat down by the Pirate’s Cove stage and gently brought my hand through the curtains so I could gently take hold of a hooked hand inside. I glanced around, taking in the silent area and I allowed the other robots to do the same. 

After a bit, I finally spook to Foxy. “You’re probably tired of being in there… You probably want to be seen like your other friends, huh? But you also don’t want to be seen the way you are… and that’s making you mad but that’s okay. It was supposed to be a surprise but we’re saving up money slowly so we can repair you and then you can show your amazingness to everyone here. Would you like that?” I smiled a little and looked around before slowly letting go of Foxy’s hand and standing up. 

“I should probably go get somethings done but…” I glanced around and I couldn’t help but feel something in the air. Something was around and watching me and I gently placed my hand to my chest, breathing out. “And, I know you two are out there somewhere in this building and I’m sorry that you’ve been lingering for so long… I hope that we can help you find your peace too. Gosh, I hope so with every fiber of my being and I won’t stop until I find out how to get you free.”

I smiled a little and brought out my hand for a moment, and I almost thought I felt something take it. I perked up a little and glanced around but nothing was there. Nothing. And as quickly as I felt it, it was gone. My heart sank at this and I held my breath, feeling even more sorry that I couldn’t help those kids and give them the hug and care they deserved after so many years. 

I hugged myself and slowly started walking towards the back of the building so I can get one last look at the place. Surprisingly, no one else was here for everyone left early but I didn’t blame them. They quickly finished cleaning and they left for why would they want to stay here in the quiet place with the knowledge that Wyatt died in the back of their heads. Most didn’t know how he died but his death still lingered in the air and it tightened around my heart.

I wandered over to Wyatt’s old office and glanced around it. It still looked very organized and nothing was out of place even if Mike tended to leave his garbage around. I walked up to the shelves with all the notes and tapes that Wyatt left and I decided that I should take them home with me to look through. After all, Wyatt has left this place for me so I was probably allowed to look through these things, right? They were most for training and to help new people so if I looked though them, then I would be an expert on this place and I wouldn’t have to worry about messing up. I found an empty cardboard box in storage and I looked for something that might help me to fill up the box with. 

In one of the drawers was a few boxes filled with training tapes. I slowly took one out and wiped the dust off the side of it, to read the date and name of it. It said, ‘For Entertainers, ‘83. Gosh this tape was almost a decade old. This must have been very outdated by now but… this was before all those kids were killed. This was before Wyatt started to lose that spark in his eye and had to stay up every single night and I actually had the chance to see him on a daily basis. Sure, these tapes wouldn’t have too much of Wyatt’s emotions in it but that didn’t matter to me right now. I quickly took all the tapes that had a later date on it and put them in the box. I didn’t fill it up too much because I would have to walk home, carrying it but I think I had a decent number of things to help me start out and learn. 

I hugged the box for a moment before I placed it on the ground and decided to take a look around the area quickly since I was alone and might find something interesting. I don’t know why I thought this for I’ve been working here for years but… something was nagging in the back of my head and I felt like I needed to look around. 

I inched out of the office and began looking around every inch of the place. I looked through the entire building- the storage room, the break room and kitchen. I even looked in the prize counter and the front desk but nothing seemed out of order… so then why did the nagging only increase as something seemed to be whispering in my ear. I quickly looked behind me and all I saw was the animatronics standing firmly on their stage but were they looking at me like that beforehand? 

I held my breath and quickly walked towards the back of the room, where the hallways twisted and seemed to go nowhere. Yet the voice seemed louder in my ear like it was happy I went here. Something seemed to push me from behind and nudge me closer to a wall but when I looked, nothing was there. Was I just imagining things? No. No I couldn’t have. Not in this building. But then if I wasn’t imagining any of this, why did it seem like I was being directed to the back, right wall of this building? 

I took a step towards the wall and laid my hand over it, a little confused. I walked here for a reason and as my palm touched the itchy, painted wall, I knew that this was why I wanted to look around. A bit confused, I slowly knocked my fist against the wall and I heard an echoing sound on the other side of it. That was strange. This wall was hollow. Or maybe there was something on the other side of it but what would that be.

I examined the wall a little, moving my palm against the panel, hopping to feel something. Continuing to knock on the wall, I knew it was thin and not as thick as the other walls around me. If I stepped to far to the left or right as I examined the wall, the sound that ringed as I knocked would be a normal wall, so it was just one area of this wall that felt off. I lined my finger along the weird back of the wall and the paint/wallpaper seemed to sink in a little. It was like someone manually built in this wall after everything else was made. 

I then felt a hole at my waist level, and curious, I pressed my finger down into it removing the wallpaper covering it. Dust covered my hand as I did this and I coughed a little due to this. What I saw, made me confused. It was a simple keyhole. What was that doing here? I remember safe rooms used to exist here but they were all abandoned and boarded up. Why would this location have one? Was this really a safe room to begin with? 

I debated a little in my head before I took out my keys and looked through them. There was one key that was different from the rest. It was old and worn down. It was the only kind of key that would fit this old and abandoned door. 

I could hear voices in my head. Someone telling me to open it. Open it. Open it. Please help us. Help us, Mr. Fitzgerald. Give us peace and help us be free. 

My spine chilled as something slowly grabbed my shoulder. It wasn’t a firm grab but instead it was gently and kind. I quickly turned around to see who was there but just like before, I was completely alone. Well, I was the only physical person here. No one was every alone in this place. 

I couldn’t help but whisper softly. “Yeah… I’ll help you guys. I promise. I’ll help you. You want the door open, right?” There was no answer but I knew that was exactly what they wanted. “Okay… after everything you’ve done for us, I can open it.” I gave a weak smile, trying to encourage whoever was there and I turned back to the weird wall. 

I placed the key into the keyhole and turned it and a click could be heard, I was right in assuming that this was the right key. Once the hidden door was unlocked, I tried to shove it open, but this was difficult. After a few attempts, I quickly took a chair from the dining area and a knife from the kitchen so I could cut through the wallpaper and make an outline of this hidden door. 

I jumped off the chair and was about to try to open the door again when I suddenly heard the front door jingle as someone walked in. I froze, but only for a moment as I quickly ran into the break room to put to chair and knife by a table. I then quickly made my way to the main room so whoever entered would not walk towards the very back and see what I was doing. I didn’t know what I was doing so I could I explain it if someone saw me? 

Hanging out by the front door and glancing around, was the good old night guard. I was honestly surprised to see Mike walking inside. Yes, I knew he said that he would come tonight but why not quit and be over with it? Glancing outside, I noticed the same van that Mike went into to leave and Fritz was just sleeping in the front seat. Was that what I was seeing? It was hard to tell from this distance. 

Mike walked over to me and patted me shoulder, smiling a little. “Hey there friend. How are you feeling after this morning?” 

“I don’t know. I own the building now.” I said this in a matter-of-fact way since I was still processing a lot of this. I slowly held up my keys to show Mike and his eyes sparkle. 

“Whoa. That’s pretty cool dude. I bet you’ll do great being in charged.”  
I couldn’t help but blush. “Really? You’ve only known me for a few days though.”

“Yeaaah. But out of everyone I’ve meet here, you’re the only one I trust with running a shit show like this and only make it a crap show so that’s pretty good from my point of view.”

“Thank you?” I really had no idea how I was expected to respond to that.   
“Imagine if that hot iron that you guys call Vincent got it… Um, I know he’s your friend and it’s probably a terrible idea to say that kind of thing in front of you but… I don’t trust him. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about him that unnerves me and tells me to watch out. That’s why I make fun of him a lot and also, it’s fun to see his reactions. Honestly, I think you should try it sometime. It’s great.”

I was silent for a moment. “Um, I’ll think about it… but not now since life isn’t the best thing right now.” 

Mike cursed under his breath and quickly nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Of course… That was probably insensitive of me…” 

“Just a little.” I paused for a moment and hugged my box of tapes close to me, trying to think. “Um, can I ask why you’re here so early?” 

“I can’t tell you. That’s a secret.” Mike gently poked my nose and I gave him a look of pure confusion. “But I’m going to do something cool. I don’t know how you’ll feel about it.” 

I blinked and felt dead for a moment before I mentally gave up inside. “I’m going to ask tomorrow. I’m too tired for all of this. I just want to sleep now.” 

Mike slowly nodded at this after a moment. “Yeah… I get that. Please, take care of yourself.” 

Why was everyone always saying that to me? I slowly nodded in response and I walked out of the building, barely noticing that it was Fritz who was in the car nearby.


	9. How to Wear a Springlock Suit: Results may Vary

As the sun set in the distance, I finally managed to make my way towards my apartment building and walked through the building’s front doors. With the large box in my hand, I had some difficulty getting here as the box threatened to slip out of my fingers and I was extremely weak but I made it here without any issues. I just hugged the box tightly, almost like how a parent would holding their child to protect them from this decaying world. 

I stepped into the cool lobby of the apartment building and glanced around quickly, shaking a little. I then held my breath when I saw who was standing at the front desk, talking to an employee. It was the landlord. Crap, crap… I really didn’t want to get in another conversation with him. I didn’t want to hear him remind me that if my night terrors were causing too much of a distraction, I would be kicked out. I didn’t need to worry about another thing. Yes, thinking about it probably didn’t help me at all but I didn’t want to hear someone else say it. 

I quickly made my way to the elevator and pressed the button for the door to open. I awkwardly stood there for a few minutes as I waited for the door to open but thankfully it did once the landlord looked over so I quickly step into it to hide. I quickly closed the door before he could walk over and I sighed deeply. Once the door was closed, I leaned against the wall and thanked the stars that I didn’t have to deal with anything else for the rest of the day. Thank you, terrible day for ending. And now all I had to worry about was going to sleep and hope my demons didn’t creep in through my skull. 

Soon enough, the quick elevator ride was over for I only lived on the third floor and I strolled into my apartment within a few seconds. I placed my box down on the nearest table and glanced around the small place that was cramped and only made me feel more trapped like I was during lunch. The hot apartment air made me start to sweat and my clothes stuck to my back.

The air conditioner must have been broken again. At least it has been raining a lot during these past few weeks so it cooled down the apartment whenever it did. I walked over to my windows and I started to open them up hoping that a passing breeze and wet air would cool the place down. This worked a little.

I reached the last window and I opened it a little and glanced outside. This was the largest window since the fire escape was just outside and I looked across the small city in front of me. It wasn’t anything special as people were taking late night walks or driving in their cars but just for a moment, I wished to be any of them. Any of them… not me… How did I end up here. How did Wyatt and Vincent end up in this situation? And those poor kids… why would anyone put that on them. 

I sighed softly and cover the windows with curtains and quickly went to go change into clothes to sleep in. I didn’t have any plans that night. I didn’t want to do anything else except for sleep so that was exactly what I was going to do. Hopefully this would get me some energy in the morning to take care of some things. 

Before I could head to my room though, the wall phone started to ring just like how it did this morning and I stopped my journey to my bedroom, almost confused. I never got phone calls at night. If we ignored this morning and stuff from work, I didn’t have many friends and my family was small so why would anyone want to call me? 

I walked over to the phone and slowly answered it, whispering, “Hello?” into the receiver. 

“Hey buddy. How are you? Sorry for calling you at night but I wanted to say something… if that’s okay.” To my surprise, the person on the other side of the phone sounded like Vincent. I paused at this as I heard his being oddly cheerful and seem to laugh. Or was he crying? I couldn’t tell with the bad signal but this brought a lot of worry onto me and I held my breath as I processed his voice.

Vincent made himself stop laughing and he sighed heavily into my ear. “Jeremy? Are you there?”

I shook my head, trying to get myself back in the present as I quickly responded. “Yeah, I am. Sorry about that… I’m a bit tried and I wasn’t expecting a call tonight. I’m really out of it.”

Vincent couldn’t help but laugh loudly at this. “What? You’re fine dude. You’re-“

“How did you get my phone number? I don’t remember giving it to you…” A chill went down my spine as I said this. 

“Oh, I was just looking through the phone book… I’m in a phone booth right now, friend. I forgot these things are claustrophobic. Haha.” 

“Oh, um… you must have something very important to say to me then…” 

There was silence for a moment. “Yeah… Um, I decided to take a walk and I did some thinking. And, I want to apologize for the way I acted today. It might be better to say this to you in person but I don’t think I can wait. I am sorry for leaving work early today and for being grumpy when the news came out. I should have been happy for you but I wasn’t. I was just very, very mad and I’m sorry for that.” 

I held my breath for a moment, not believing that I was hearing these things from Vincent. Was this really him? Out of all the years I’ve known him, Vincent has never apologized to someone for real and this was hard to process. Vincent then continued speaking. “Jerms? You there? Did we break up? Heeeello?” 

“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry. I’m just thinking… thank you for saying those things... That… That actually helped my day a little.” I wasn’t lying. 

Vincent made a happy noise at this. “Really? That’s cool… that’s really nice… um, can I ask another thing? This one is actually a little weird.” 

“Um… it depends on how bad it is, I guess.” 

“What? No, no, no… It isn’t bad. I promise. It really isn’t… I was just thinking about how we’ve both known each other and have been through this entire mess for years but we’ve never tried to get to know each other on a personal level and we should change that. Why don’t we do something later? I could visit your place or you can visit mine. We can do whatever you want because why the hell not?” 

I was honestly nothing but confused as Vincent said this but after some thought, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and I smiled a little. “Yeah, that sounds pretty nice. You’re welcomed over whenever you like.” 

“And the same back to you. And I should probably go before this phone asks for more money. I’ll see you tomorrow though?” 

“Yeah, I’ll see you then… Have a nice evening, Vincent.” 

“You too.” And then he hung up the phone and I was once again alone in my room but this time I felt a lot better than before and I had a small smile on my face. Maybe things were finally starting to get just a little better. 

Smiling, I almost skipped to my bed and I laid down against the soft mattress. I probably forgot to do a few things but I was good here and didn’t want to leave. In the darkness of my room, I pulled the covers over my head and closed my eyes. 

It only took a few minutes for the unsavory thoughts to creep onto my brain and crawl its way into my thoughts. I grabbed my pillow and hugged it as I thought about the day and how the person I looked up to the most was dead… I curled up tightly as tears started to swell in my eyes. He was gone. He was gone and never coming back. 

He trusted me with the entire building and now I had to run the place by myself. How was I going to do that? Wyatt, I wish you were here to help me. I feel clueless without you. I knew what I wanted to do to help those kids but where was I supposed to start? How was one supposed to catch a murderer? Did Wyatt have notes for that somewhere or was I completely on my own. Please, gods… I didn’t want to be on my own for this.

A nagging feeling came to the back of my head and I hugged my pillow tighter, shaking a little. It was small at first but very slowly, this feeling started to build and build and the nagging was no longer possible to ignore. It felt like someone was slowly trying to tear away at my skull just so it can say something to me but no matter how hard it tried, it could not get through. That was until it felt like something was stabbing through my skull to finally get to me.

I gasped out in pain and covered my mouth with my hands in an attempt to keep myself quiet as this migraine got worst and worst. Tear plucked the side of my eyes and I shook uncontrollably and the nagging feeling soon turned into words.

It was a whisper at first but as time went by and the short message repeated in my eyes, it began to pick up speed and become louder and louder to the point that I thought my ears would start bleeding. “Please save us. Please save us. Please save us.” This was repeated over and over and over. Over, over, over. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from or who was saying it but I knew. I still knew. They were calling out to me. They were-

I sucked in air due to the pain and I fell off my bed, collapsing onto the ground as I covered my ears tightly. But then, the moment that I hit the ground… everything was quiet once again. There was still a lingering pain in the back of my head that refused to lift and go away, but the voices were no longer there. It was no longer here but the presences of those poor souls could still be felt. 

I slowly stood up and glanced around, expecting to see something but nothing was there in the darkness of the night. My heart was pounding out of my chest and sweat was sticking on my skin and clothes. I couldn’t sleep after that. No… I couldn’t. 

I stumbled out of my room, almost tripping over my feet and walked to the kitchen to grab a late-night snack from the fridge. I grabbed one of the last cookies and taking a bite, I closed the fridge and glanced around. This was when I noticed the box of tapes, I brought home and I slowly walked over to it.

I couldn’t go back to sleep so maybe it was a good time to get a start on these tapes. I hoped something good comes from it. Maybe something will tell me how to save those kids here. Oh please. I hoped that to be true. 

I grabbed the box and a tape recorder that was laying in storage and I walks back to my bedroom. I sat on my bed and I looked through the tapes, not sure which one to listen to first. No, that was a lie. I was leaning towards listening to the older ones. Since maybe those would have Wyatt being happy or him just not freaking out because of the sad history of the place he worked for. I slowly took out a tape that said “Spring lock Suit training” even though I didn’t read what it said when I grabbed it and I placed it into the tape recorder. Within moments, I played the tape and it started playing.

The tape player was a little muffled and old but once I heard his voice, a chill went down my spine. Just with a few words, hearing him again made me want to hug the tape recorder as tears swelled in my eyes. I stood up and walked around my room, for a moment, trying to get over these feelings as the voice echoed in my room. 

“Uh, hello? Hello, hello?” Wyatt’s voice wasn’t stuttering like it usually did nowadays. He sounded just a little more confident and put together and for a moment, I couldn’t help but smile at this. “Uh, welcome to your new career as a performer/ entertainer for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Uh, these tapes will provide you with much need information on how to handle/ climb into/ climb out of mascot costumes. Right now, we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronic and suit!” 

I paused when I heard this and I stared at the tape recorder. I knew exactly which suits they were talking about. They were the classic suits from the first place. They were simple. A golden bear and a golden rabbit who sung on stage. But then the incident happened and I haven’t seen those suits in years. 

I let the tape continue going. “So please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits as accidents/injuries/death/ irreparable and grotesque maiming can occur.” I froze at this and I held my breath for a moment. “First of all, we’ll discuss how to operate the mascots while they are in animatronic form. For ease of operation, the animatronics are set to turn and walk toward sound feed. This is an easy and hands-free approach that the animatronics stay where the children are for maximum entertainment/ crowd-pleasing value.

“To change the animatronics to suit mode, insert the turn firmly the hand crank provided by the manufacturer! Turning of the crank will recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the suit, providing room to climb inside. Please make sure that spring locks are fastened tight to ensure the animatronic devises remain safe! We will cover this in more detail in tomorrow’s session. Remember to smile! You are the face of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.” 

The session ended and a chill crawled down my spine as I slowly walked back over to my bed and laid down on the mattress. I always forget those suits were a thing until someone brought them up, like Vincent. I slowly breathed out, thinking about this and I curled up underneath the covers, still letting the tape run and play through the recording. Slowly, as the next recording and session started, I felt myself get more tired as it played and I just listened to Wyatt speaking without comprehending his words and the horrors of what he was saying. 

“Uh, hello? Hello? Uh, for today’s lesson we will be continuing our training on proper suit-handling technique. When using an animatronic as a suit, please ensure that the animatronic parts are tightly compressed and fastened by the spring lock located around the inside of the suit. It may take a few moments to position your head and torso between these parts in a manner where you can move and speak. Try not to nudge or press against any of the spring locks inside the suit. Do not touch the spring locks at any time. Do not breathe on the spring locks as moisture may loosen them and cause them to break loose. In the case that the spring locks become loose while you are wearing the suit, please try to maneuver away from populated areas before bleeding out as to not ruin the customer experience. 

“As always, if there is ever an emergency, please go to the designated safe room; every location is built with one extra room that is not included in the digital map layout programmed into the animatronics or security systems. This room is hidden to customers, invisible to animatronics, and is always off camera. As always, remember to smile! You are the face of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.” 

Halfway through this tape, my eyes grew heavy and I couldn’t do anything else but slowly and gently close them. I cuddled up with the blankets and I tiredly felt my body start to slip away. Sliiping away… away… away. Sleep was almost here; I could feel it as the reality I was currently in was almost gone. There was nothing. Only the tape that I left to play. The last shred of reality I remembered was Wyatt’s voice from the recorder saying something about the Spring Bonnie suit being moved and the concerns that followed it. 

Soon, the reality of my life drifted away and I was in between being awake and dreaming. I was where the mind wondered and imagined different things without a rhythm or reason and soon, I was seeing Wyatt standing right in front of me. He was just standing there, smiling softly and after a moment, he took out a balloon and handed it to me. 

I slowly took the balloon by the string and looked up at it, confused. “Wyatt?...”  
“Let go.” Was my friend’s only words.

“W-What?”

“Let go of the balloon. That is the only way to be free. Let it go and you will be at peace.” Wyatt slowly laid his palm on my cheek and I looked at his, tears swelling in my eyes. “Let it go.”

I slowly nodded and as I finally fell into a deep slumber, slowly letting go of it and the balloon floated upwards, flying freely.


	10. What Brings You to Work?

Moments before my shift, Wyatt walked over to me with a worried look. His arm was in a cast and he limped a little bit, but he began to insist that he could take the shift by himself, that I didn’t have to do it. His voice shook as he spoke, and he held on tightly to my arm, trying to keep myself from walking into the office. “I can do it. I’m good as new. It’s just a broken arm and a sprain ankle. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s not that bad, Jeremy. I’ve been through worse things like… like, um, remember when...” 

I sighed and slowly held Wyatt’s arm. “You say that but… they already hurt you. Look at you… they… they managed to get you once… I-I don’t want it to happen again. P-Please, go and rest. Maybe we’ll talk about this when you’re better but… but I’m not debating this now. I’ll get through tonight. I promise.”

Wyatt slowly nods before he gave me a quick hug and walked off, leaving me completely alone in the pizzeria to defend myself and hope that I can keep that promise for real. 

And suddenly I heard a noise as my mind spun and the area around me began to change. It twisted around me and I couldn’t exactly tell where I was. Was I in the office of the old location? There was the desk in the middle of the room, the vents on either side of me and the wires hanging from the ceiling. But how and why was I here?

As I blinked and took a better look at my surroundings, I couldn’t help but notice a few things. I wasn’t sitting in a chair but instead, I found myself laying in my bed and instead of the long hallway that should have been in front of me, I was met with where the bedroom door was supposed to be. I glanced next to me and I found my alarm clock which was flashing in bright red, 12:00. Dang, I had to start work. I quickly looked around and tried to find my monitor, mask and flashlight but it was nowhere to be seen. 

A quickly chill went down my spine as I tumbled out of my bed, shaking a lot. Where were they? Where was it? I needed them. I needed to stay alive so I could keep my promise to Wyatt. Wait… but he was dead. He was… and I wasn’t working tonight? N-No… I was sleeping in my bedroom, right? I couldn’t remember. 

I blinked my eyes, as I leaned against the wall and shook my head. I was awake. At least I think I was. Maybe I was half awake and my tired head was only making me imagine things like the postures on the walls. 

I slowly tried to touch the poster but I couldn’t feel it. Reality and my dreams seemed to have massed together and in the darkness of the night, it only made me sleepier and enhanced the feelings of being at work. I was awake but my brain has not processed it yet. 

I should probably go back to bed and let the eventual nightmare take a hold of me. I wandered back to my bed, almost falling into it. Before I could lay down, my heart started pounding heavily. What was that? Did I hear something? I couldn’t tell anymore but I was starting to think I heard something right outside of my room. My head still tired, I shook at the thought that I was being lazy and I accidentally let the animatronics get close to me. 

How did I let this happen? I couldn’t have. I promised to eat breakfast with Wyatt in the morning. I promised him so, so many things. I couldn’t let these robots touch me and get me. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. 

And then I heard it again. It was hard to tell if the noise was real or if my dreaming state was imagining it but the noise made me jump. Was it an animatronic? A burglar? Who or what was making that noise? I… I didn’t know and I didn’t know what kind of insane person would even want to break in here. Whether or not I was in the pizzeria or at home, which I couldn’t tell anymore through my pounding head, it would be stupid for anyone to have broken in for there was not much of value in any of those places. Did someone really want the prizes that much?

I must have been imagining things. I must have. I should just go back to bed and in the morning, I will feel a lot better and the darkness of the night wouldn’t confuse me anymore. But then I heard a creaking noise in the next room and I couldn’t ignore this problem anymore for this was the third time I heard something. Someone must have been here. 

I slowly walked out of my bedroom and entered the hallway where I saw balloons of several different colors banging against the ceiling and there were plushies of the animatronics scattered across the ground. Children’s laughter echoed around me and in the distance, I heard a familiar girl’s voice humming a tune. The tune of when darkness comes and a wild bear comes to kill you.

I quickly walked to a nearby drawer and I opened it to take out a flashlight. I quickly turned it on and cursed softly as I realized that the flashlight was dying and its light was dimmed. I tried hitting it to make the light brighter, but it didn’t work so settled on not being able to see much. 

I slowly inched towards the living room, where all of the windows were opens and I froze at the sight that was by the window with the fire escape. Trying to escape out of the window, was a large figure, that clanged and banged with every movement it made, like it was made out of metal. I squeaked and slowly started to back away as a saw a flash of blue glowing eyes and two large rabbit ears from the figure’s shadow. 

And then I accidentally tripped over a chair as I tried getting away and I fell to the ground, the flashlight crashing next to me. The figure by the window yelped and looked at the window, considering leaving but he thought about this for too long. I quickly crawled over to the nearest lamp and I turned it on. 

A blinding light filled the room, and the rabbit looking creature by the door was no long who I thought it was but instead, I was meet with a friend with purple hair, and was wearing a purple jacket, jeans… and gloves? The moment the light turned on, the friend quickly hid something behind his back and straightened up his posture. He glanced to the side, and bit his lip, trying to think. 

Still half asleep, I blinked a little and tried to speak but my words probably made no sense to my friend. “V-Vincent? What are you doing here? I… I’m working… You can’t be here. You know that.”

Vincent froze a little before his body started shaking and he hugged one of his arms that seemed to be hiding behind his back. He stepped back and whipped something away from his eyes. “J-Jeremy?... Hey, kid… Um, don’t mind me…”  
I slowly stood up, struggling to speak up for a moment. “What are you doing here, at work? Did, did you forget something? I-It’s dangerous to be here…” 

Vincent seemed to quickly catch onto my tired state and started to take advantage of that, as he bounced on his feet and did a quick finger snap. “Oh… um, yes! Yes, I did. Don’t worry, I got what I needed. I’m about to leave-“ 

Vincent quickly turned back to the fire escape window and while he was trying to get out of it, he accidentally hit the pane, and the glass window suddenly shut in front of him. It was a mere inch away from slamming on his fingers. Vincent squeaked and quickly turned back to me, both of his hands were behind his back now and he was kicking one of his feet, trying to decide what to do. 

I on the other hand was slowly processing what was happening around me. The slam of the of the window echoed around us and lingered in my ears. This is what finally woke me up as I shook my head a bit. “Wait… I’m in my apartment. I-I’m not dreaming.” I glanced behind me and finally noticed that the balloons and plushies were no longer in the hallway. The children’s laughter has been lost to the wind. 

“Why are you here, Vincent?...” I stepped back and was starting to get freaked out that my friend broke into my house. 

Vincent sucked in air through his teeth, trying to figure out what to say. “Damn it…. No, no… you’re sleeping right now and I’m not here. Just got back to bed and lay down your head and this will all feel like a dream.” Vincent inched towards the window again and started to open it but I quickly spoke up. 

“N-No, I’m not sleep. I’m awake… V-Vincent, why are you here?” 

Vincent stayed by the window for a moment before he slowly breathed out and turned towards me. ‘I was just walking and… I… my mind started turning and telling me all this bad stuff and I couldn’t take it. I just got r-really scared and when I passed your apartment, I noticed that the window was opened so, I decided what was the harm in coming in… since you did say I could come whenever. Granted, I should have knocked or something but I didn’t want to wake you… Gods, that sounds stupid. I should just go. I’m sorry, Jerms…” 

“Wait, no. I-It’s okay. You can stay here… Um, you want some tea. That might clear your head and help.”

Vincent flinched a little at my suggesting to stay and he spook softly. “Actually, there’s only one thing that I need that would help me feel better.” 

“Oh, um… what is that? Maybe I could help?” 

“Actually, you probably could help me. Um, my request it’s that big or anything just… can I see the keys to the building? Please?” 

I tilted his head at this request, but after a moment, I slowly reached for my pocket and I took out an old ring of keys and dangled it in the air for a moment before cupping it in my hands. “I got it right here. It’s perfectly fine… but, why do you want to see it?” 

Vincent twitched a little and glanced to the side. “No reason… shit… n-no reason at all…”

I tilted my head to the other side and I started walking towards Vincent, who didn’t do anything in response. “Are… Are you worried that I lost them or something? I… I know I’m a klutz but I wouldn’t lose something like this in a million years. And… I… I might not look like I can handle this. I-I’m a little scared to but… look… I don’t understand why he gave me the place instead of you and, I probably never will understand it and so much crap has happened already but… We can figure this out together, okay? We’ll all figure out the proper steps. You, me, Hailey, Caleb… everyone. We can talk about this and I’m sure that we can do something good… But, let’s do this in the morning. After some sleep and when we have a clear head, okay?” 

Tears swell in Vincent’s ears and he slowly nodded and brought both of his hands behind his back. “O-Okay… Sure, yeah… we can do that.” 

I tried my best to give a supporting smile. “You know, the offer to have some tea is still out there. No pressure of course, but we’re friends so… you can stay as long as you want.” 

“Oh, thanks. Really thank you but I should go… can I ask a question first?”

“Sure, Vinny.” 

“What are you planning on doing? Since you have the place. You probably want to help out those kids a lot, right?”

I slowly nodded. “Yeah, I really want to help free them but you know that. Wyatt and I spent such a long time and many days trying to find a solution but we couldn’t but… um, as I was eating lunch today, an idea can to my head, and it’s far out there but I don’t know what else to do.” 

“…What is your idea?”

“Well, it’s dumb because I don’t know how we can make this possible, but you know how in movies, ghosts try to seek out revenge on the people that has hurt them? Well, what if we somehow found the killer of those kids? I don’t know how we can do that but if we can find them and bring justice then maybe those kids would finally be at rest and- Vincent are you okay?” 

As Jeremy spoke about this, Vincent shifted uncomfortable and stared at the ground. “Y-Yes, I am just thinking. Are you sure you really want to find to killer that may be dangerous?” 

For the first time all day, I stood up straight and I spoke with nothing but confidence. “Yes, I’m sure. I want nothing more but to save those kids from their current state and that is exactly what I am going to do.” 

“Oh…” I could see the gears almost turn in Vincent’s head before he sighed. “I… I need to go. I, I’ll see you tomorrow Jerms…”

“Oh, see ya…” I spoke quietly, not sure what to do as I watched Vincent turn back to the window to open it. As he did this, Vincent seemed to have brought something in front of his body to keep it away from my view, but I noticed the flash of something. Not processing what this could have been, I walked over to the window, to help Vincent with opening it. This was a mistake as Vincent wasn’t expecting this and he quickly stepped back, accidentally dropping something.

A clang echoed throughout the room. 

As I chill went down my spine, I slowly looked over at Vincent and glanced at what he dropped and I froze. Shining from the lamp’s light was a simple kitchen knife. Its blade was long and its edge was extremely sharp. 

I stared at the knife for a moment before I slowly looked back at Vincent, my head pounding and every stand of hair on me, standing on its end. I quickly stepped back from the knife and Vincent who was standing over it, but pretending that it wasn’t there. 

I spoke softly, my voice shaking and barely understandable. “W-Why is that there?” 

Vincent pretended to look down and noticed the knife for the first time but it was clear that he was lying with every word he said. “Oh? Why is this here? Jeremy, you need to be more careful with your things. Someone could get hurt and we don’t want that.” 

Vincent quickly picked up the knife and I backed away some more as I remembered back to how oddly Vincent acted when I said I was going to find the killer. Why did Vincent really come here? Why did he come with a knife? None of this set well. I quickly held my hand close to my chest and I knew that Vincent wasn’t here just to see a key. He was here for most sinister reasons and despite Vincent trying to leave easier, as I finally connecting the dots it changed all of that. 

“You… you’re going to kill me? B-But… why… why would you do something… Why fall down to the murderer’s level?” I held my breath and tried to run towards the door but Vincent suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him before I could run off and call for help. 

Vincent’s voice suddenly grew darker and as I stared back at him, there was a glint in his eyes. Once again, the image of a rabbit ears appeared behind him in the shadows. My eyes widened as I saw the shadow’s shape and it’s long, standing ears. I tried to push away from him, but Vincent only tightened his grip on me and for a moment… he seemed sadden as he spun the knife around in his hands. 

“You know… I did come here to hurt you but halfway down the hall, I decided to chicken out. We are friends after all… I was going to leave and forget about tonight but then you just had to wake up and find me. You then kept pushing me and trying to help and… and now we’re here. Damnit, Jerms! I was trying to escape for a reason.”

I quickly glanced around the living room, trying to see what I could do and I spoke, trying to distract, my enemy. “W-What… What were you hoping to accomplish if I died? Why hurt me? Why try to kill me?” 

“You were my only competition for that deed, my friend. I would really, really like that place but you took it away from me… a-and now you’re going to make that place better?” Vincent started laughing, a little uncontrollable, as he waved the knife in front of my sweating face. “Why do you want to make the place better, huh?”

I stared at Vincent’s shaking body, my throat tightened and I was unable to speak. As I watched his eyes twitched, I finally realized what was happening and fear washed over me. This wasn’t the first time he wanted to hurt someone. I wasn’t unique in this situation. 

I slowly opened my mouth and I finally managed to say something after a few seconds. “You killed them… Y-You killed those kids. You’re the murderer… sh-shit… how… how could you-“ 

Before I could finish what I was saying, Vincent quickly shoved me to the ground, his cheeks tinted red. I landed nearby the lamp and table and I glanced around shaking. This couldn’t have been happening. This was all a bad dream. Why wasn’t I waking up? How… How was this possible? My friend, my co-worker, the people I’ve known for decades, he was the one who made everyone hurt. He was the one who did all of this. He killed and hurt and lied, just to stay where he was and we were all fools. We all fell for it. 

Vincent spoke softly. “I see that look on your face. You’ve already figured it out so I don’t need to confirm anything to you… And damnit, now I have to get even more blood on my hands but hey. At least your screams would be lovely to hear.” Vincent said the last part in an almost sing-song like manner. 

I yelped, and without much time to think, I quickly pushed the table in front of Vincent before he could step towards me. The lamp crashed onto the ground and shards of it scattered across the room, forcing Vincent to step back quickly. The crash was so loud that it echoed throughout the apartment, and I was certain that the apartments nearby heard that. Great, I was going to get in trouble with the landlord again. What did the landlord say he was going to do again? Come up here in the middle of the night to personally kick me out? Wait, that was it. That’s how I was going to get out of here. 

I quickly stood up and started running towards my front door, banging the walls on the way over. I forced myself to scream and to howl as loudly as I could and I quickly kicked over a nearby table. I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape my apartment with Vincent here but at least I could cause some attention towards us. I screamed louder, trying to get someone’s attention, anyone’s attention. How long would it take for people to get here? Please, please don’t be too long. Not when Vincent’s deed is already done. 

Vincent then suddenly grabbed my arm from behind and pulled me towards him as he gave a sharp growl. Before I could fight back, he quickly grabbed my shoulders and slammed me against a wall, the slam echoing throughout the apartment and other people could probably hear it outside. 

Vincent spoke softly into my ear. “Shhh, you’re only giving me more reasons to hurt you and, I don’t want that. I was going to leave but then you had to see the knife and assume everything. Why did you-“

I quickly interrupted Vincent, my body shaking. “Why did you kill them?” My heart was beating so fast that I could feel it go up my chest. I sweated buckles as I glanced towards the front door, hoping that my cries did something. Please, please, please. I didn’t want to die. I couldn’t die tonight and leave those kids behind to suffer. I couldn’t leave Wyatt’s wishes unfulfilled and leave everything to a person that would just bring everything down. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t. 

Vincent knife lingered towards my face, and I tried to inch away from it, but Vincent just grabbed me and pulled me closer. He wrapped his hand around my face and held it very close to the edge of the knife. I tried to pull my head away, but Vincent was too strong and wouldn’t allow this. I closed my eyes, my breath becoming heavier and impossible to manage. 

Vincent finally spoke in response to my question. “Now. Why would I answer that? My time here is running out. If you really wanted to know the answer, you should have asked me that before you started dragging everyone here with your screams. Now you’ll never get your answer because I’ll have to-“

Before Vincent could get the knife closer to me, I screamed out. “W-Wait! Before you do anything, please answer one thing.” 

Vincent growls. “Will you stop yelling?! And what is soooo important that you think it validates me stopping what I am going to do?” 

“D-Did… Did you consider me a friend at all?” 

I said this without much thought. Honestly, I didn’t care what Vincent thought about me for how could we have ever been friends if he dared to do this to me now but… I needed a reason for Vincent to delay his deed. And somehow, this worked. Vincent seemed to be taken aback by this and he was silent for a moment. He loosened his grip on me but only for a moment before he quickly held onto me again. 

He growled a bit as the knife flashed and its shine blinded my eyes a little. “Why should that matter? Why are you asking that now? I’m about to kill you.” 

“W-What about your call though? Why did you call me and say those things like hanging out if you didn’t want to do it? W-We… We can still be friends if you want to… I… I won’t tell anyone what you did here and you can do whatever you want to with the restaurant. I will even say that I was having another night terror when the people get here. I promise.”

I didn’t mean any of this. Once I was out of this situation and ran off, I was going to tell someone. I would call the police and we were going to bring justice to my formal friend. I made a promise to those kids and to Wyatt and I was going to stay true to that. They were going to be free.

Vincent examined my face and the way his eyebrows furrowed, I could tell that he knew I was lying. He knew I was going to get help and that Vincent wasn’t going to get out of this easily… Unless he left here without any witnesses.

Vincent steadied himself and quickly let go of me so he can swipe his knife at me but this was a mistake as I quickly stepped away. I barely made it out of the killing blow as the knife swung down on my shirt and cut throw the fabric. Vincent tried to grab a hold of me again but I quickly managed to dodge. 

Vincent growled at this. “Stay still!”

I just quickly shook my head in response.

Vincent was going in for a second attack but then a sound could be heard behind up, right behind the front door. It sounded like someone who was mad and tired and upset… that they had to wake up and bother me at this time at night. 

My hopes went up for a moment and I quickly screamed out some more. “Help! Help me! Someone is trying to kill me!” I made the mistake of turning towards the door as I said this. 

Vincent cursed at this and swiped his knife at me one last time before he bolted towards the window to get out of there as quickly as he could. He was screwed. He knew that. Nothing went right tonight and all he could do now was run. But for him, at least he managed to strike me.

Pain surged throughout my back and I yelled out as I slowly leaned against the wall, doing my best to stay standing. Blood soaked the back of my shirt as Vincent managed to cut across my back. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it was enough to stop me for a moment. My legs shaking, I still tried to walk towards where Vincent ran off towards, but instead, I fell onto the ground. 

And that was when the front door finally opened and the landlord looked inside, worried that he too was going to get killed. All he found was my living room a mess and the window to the fire escape opened. He quickly ran over to me to helped me up and we walked over to the window to see if Vincent was still in eyes view… but he was nowhere to be seen.


	11. A Horde of News Reporters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not uploading in such a long time. The semester had started and it's very difficult for me to write while school is in session. But it's winter break now so I can write all I want!

Once we realized that Vincent wasn’t there, the landlord quickly made sure I was okay by loosely patching up my injury as I called the police. So much followed that it was a blur. The landlord and I didn’t say much to each other as we waited for the police as he tried to figure out what he was going to say to his clients. 

We stayed in my apartment and the landlord paced the hallway as I sat on the couch, waiting. I stared at my hands, shaking. Vincent… Oh, gods, Vincent… why did you do it? Why did you kill those kids? Why? And why stay with us all this time? Did you want to harm others but couldn’t? We all wanted to protect the kids that went there and help them have a fun time. We thought we were finally doing good for once but… crap…. A child murderer was always just a few feet away from them. Vincent could have hurt them whenever he wanted to. 

Shaking, I covered my mouth as tears swelled in my eyes. Oh gods, we were looking for Vincent this whole time. What would Wyatt even think? I tried to stay as silent as possible as a tear rolled down my cheek. 

Soon enough, the police arrived and everything turned into a crime scene. We were kicked out of my apartment and I knew that I wouldn’t go be there for a long time. The landlord was able to give out his statement right away, but once I told the police who hurt me and what Vincent had done in the past, they wanted to bring me in for questioning. 

So that is what happened. After the doctors on sight patched up my back and made sure that my cut wouldn’t get inflected and they knew I would be okay, the police drove me off. They brought me to the cold and dark station. I wasn’t going to get anymore sleep tonight, but even if I wasn’t here, my thoughts would keep me up.

And then I was questioned. They asked me about what happened that night and I told them everything, especially with how I learned that Vincent was the murderer. They asked me a lot of questions about that and I answered all of them. I did my best to leave out the fact about the ghosts that haunted the restaurant though. I must have been in that station for hours on end, being asked the same questions as they expected me to say anything new, but I didn’t. 

Finally, after a while, they let me out of the station, and I was now standing on the other side of the city with no car. The police had probably drove out to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria to look for evidence. I looked up at the sun as police cars speed down past a nearby road. Well, I guess the restaurant wasn’t going to open today but that was for the best. 

I wasn’t going to have that place opened until Vincent was found and arrested. It was different when I thought the killer had fled the state or country. Then I was sure that the kids would stay safe. But the killer was here, and so, so close to those kids. It was no longer safe for anyone and I was going to do nothing else but protect those kids. 

I placed my hands in my pockets and I started to walk away from the station. It was going to be a long walk and I didn’t even know where I was going. The police were probably investing my apartment and they may have been at Fazbear’s but I doubted they would be there for long when they noticed Vincent couldn’t have been there.

Maybe I’ll hang out in the breakroom for a bit… tell the spirits that we found out who hurt them and we’re trying to find Vincent now. I will tell them that the violence that was thrown at them will soon, soon come to justice.

Would that be enough to get them to rest? Probably not but even then, they should know. They should know what happened. Those kids should have a reason to be happy, at least a little. 

It was already noon by now as I continued to walk down the sidewalk, I couldn’t help but think about today, and I couldn’t help but think about tonight and how we didn’t have a night guard. Mike was quitting and we had no one for tonight. No one to watch those poor souls. No one to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves or that Vincent wouldn’t come in the middle of the night to hurt them more. Out of all the nights, this was one of the worst nights to leave those kids alone. 

Maybe I could ask Mike to spend another night here…

No, I shouldn’t. He already threw all logic out the window with just doing the job last night. It was unfair to ask to stay another night. But then what were we going to do? I didn’t dare to ask Caleb or Hilary for help. I couldn’t ask anyone here to threaten their lives to do the night shift and really… I was tired of looking for new employees to do that. I was tired of hiring someone to give a job that might kill them. That was unfair. That was terrible. What kind of person was I to pick an employee that could get hurt and have their lives cut short because I thought they were good enough at the job? I didn’t deserve that kind of power and choice. I really didn’t. 

I didn’t control anyone else’s life except for my own… Did this mean I was going to follow in the footsteps of my own boss? Would I follow what Wyatt did? Was I meant to go on the night duty like him for such a long time? Yes. Yes, it meant exactly that and instead of being terrified of what could happen, I was okay with this. I would take care of these kids. I would look out for them until we finally find Vincent and justice comes to him…

Gosh, we were all so, so dumb for not noticing that he was the killer before. I dared to call him my friend, my partner. I cared about what he went through, and I cared about his feelings and I thought he cared for me in the same way… but I guess not. For he was going to take my own life… gosh, what did those kids feel when they had to see Vincent every single day after he hurt them so, so much They didn’t deserve that hurt, pain and panic. I thought we were taking care of them, but we let Vincent do the repairs on them. We brought suffering to them even more. 

I stood at the end of a sidewalk, only halfway to the restaurant, and I stood there, my hands in my pocket. I stared at the ground, tears swelling in my eyes. Those poor souls… Yes, I had many feelings about what was happening but none of this was about me. It was about those kids. Everything was about those kids and making sure that they were okay when everything was over. 

I stared and the ground and didn’t feel like moving a muscle. I didn’t hear the car pulling up next to me until it was already parked, and the window was rolling down. 

A man spoke out from the passenger’s seat. “Hey… Jeremy? You okay?”

I glanced over to find Caleb in a car, just a foot away from me. Hailey was in the driver’s seat and she was watching me with concern. “Jeremy? You seem a little out of it… but… what are you doing all the way over here? Don’t you live on the other side of the city?” 

I spoke softly. “Yeah, but um… the police needed me to answer a few questions… They just released me so, now I’m all the way over here.” 

“Oh… yeah.” Hailey went quiet, not sure what to say. 

Caleb managed to say something. “Um… we… we both heard what happened last night. The police called us…” 

“They might need us to answer a few questions later, but they decided not to call us in. At least not yet…” Hailey sighed and stared at her steering wheel. 

“The whole thing is on the news now… about how Vincent attacked you. It’s crazy dude. I beat that all the news people are already at Fazbear’s waiting to interview any employee who shows us. Who knows, we might even become famous-“

Hailey hit Caleb’s shoulder to make him stop talking and then looked at me worried. “I know you don’t have a car so… you need a ride anywhere? We can take you.” 

I stepped back. “Oh, th-thank you… I appropriate that but-“ 

“Just get in the car, Jeremy.”

I quickly nodded before I slid into the back of the car and it started driving down the road again. I circled my thumbs around each other as I looked between my friends who was exchanging some words in the front. Caleb noticed how I was quiet and tried to turn on the radio to cheer me up, but Hailey quickly stopped him. I guess she didn’t think it was the best time to play music. It looked like she wanted to say something but was waiting for the right time to finally say it. 

Due to this, I finally spoke up after a few minutes, “So, um… how are all of you taking this news? Th-That Vincent is…” I dragged on the question. 

Caleb was the first to respond. “Alright, so yeah. I didn’t like the dude much and I always preferred you but… I never thought he would do this… Crap, what the hell lead him to do that and then decide to work for us? W-Why didn’t he… why didn’t he hurt more people if he was in the right place? I-I mean… I’m happy he didn’t but… what stopped him.”

I was about to tell Caleb the answer. It was all because of Wyatt. Once the incident happened, he worked so hard to boost up security, to make sure another kid didn’t die here. Of course, other accidents happened but at least another kid didn’t perish because of Vincent… Gosh, everything that I knew two days ago was suddenly different now that Wyatt was gone, and Vincent was revealed to be… 

Suddenly Hailey started talking and I was brought back into reality. “Honestly, I always felt like there was something off about him. He was always so perverted around me and you, Jeremy… and he smoked outside of the restaurant- where kids were! They were just so many red flags that I spotted over time. I always knew that there was something up with him but… you wouldn’t just assume that he murdered kids… That, that is terrible.” 

“If I see him again, I’m going to punch him.” Caleb mutters softly.

“Me too.” Hailey sighed. 

I stared outside the window and watched the cars pass by, thinking for a bit, not sure what to say or do. After a moment, I started to explain how the police were probably investigated my home so I couldn’t go there, so I asked them if they could drop me off at work instead. My friends looked at each other a little nervous and asked if I was sure about that and I slowly nodded, deciding not to tell them that I planned on doing the night shift. Again, they asked me if I was sure that I wanted to go to work. They said how there was probably news crews and other police members in the parking lot and since the place was closed for the day, why would I even need to go there. I just asked them again to please bring me to work and finally, after a bit, Hailey turned the street to go there. I stared out the window in silence. I could tell that Hailey was looking at me worried through the rear-view mirror and Caleb was staring at the floor, holding his breath.

I hoped they were okay. 

We only said a few more words to each other but other than that, we didn’t have much more to say. So, we sat in silence. Sometimes, Hailey would give me a smile of encouragement through the mirror and once Caleb tossed me a chocolate candy, but there was nothing more.

Soon enough, Hailey pulled into our workspace and she was right about what she thought would be there. There were no customers in the parking lot, but even then, it was still busy and crowded. The only regular car that sat in the parking lot was towards the side of the building and I recognized it to be what Mike rode off in yesterday. 

The parking lot had several cop cars in it, and many policemen seemed to be leaving the restaurant now and pilling up into their cars with whatever they wanted to take out from the place. These cars weren’t the only ones on the scene though. There were several news vans with reporters and camera men standing by them, getting ready to interview and talk to whoever they could. Once the police walked out of the restaurant, all the reporters rushed over to them and started snapping photos or filming. 

I knew right away what those reporters must have been asking. These reporters must have done their research and was aware of the past of this place. They would have asked about the killer and the kids and the rumors that the place was haunted and many other things. They were asking about the past locations and why trouble seemed to follow us everywhere and why we weren’t close down yet… And maybe one of them were asking if the animatronics still smelled like rotten flesh. 

I drew a shaken breath at the last thought and I slowly hugged myself tightly. Hailey parked her car as close to the restaurant as she could, causing the attention of some of the reporters nearby and some of them started to walk over to our car. 

Hailey cursed softly at this and she quickly turned to Jeremy, looking worried. “You sure you want to go out there and deal with those reporters? Caleb and I are going somewhere to eat to clear our heads and you’re always welcome to come.”

I thought through this and it honestly sounded like a good time. A way to clear my head and to possibly even smile but… no. I needed to get my work done and watch these kids. I needed to protect them from Vincent now that he was on the run. Of course, I didn’t say my thought process to Hailey but instead I only responded to her question with a sigh before I slowly nodded. 

“Okay… only if you’re sure.” Hailey sighed and unlocked the doors. 

The three of us quickly said our goodbyes and I stepped out of the car. Hailey and Caleb decided not to leave right away and were watching me through the car window to make sure I made it to the restaurant okay. 

Almost the moment I walked out of the car, a microphone was pointed at my face as several people started to ask questions. I froze up for a few seconds as the flash of the cameras almost blinded me but soon, I was able to make myself walk. I stared at the ground, doing my best to not show the others how much I was shaking. It was only a short walk to the front door, and I would be free. And I was right with what the reporters were asking, and I had to do my best to not break down when I heard them. 

“What are your thoughts on how one of the employees here was the Fazbear killer?”

“Did the boss secretly know this when he hired him?”

“Every location seems to have an incident, how are you still running? Is there money being paid under the table to keep it up?” 

“Did you know that you are being extremally disrespectful to those kids who died years ago by still running this place? What made you and your boss decide to be so insensitive that you would rather make money then respect the dead?”

That last statement got me, as tears started to swell in my eyes. I was so, so glad I managed to get to the front door of the place. My safe haven, at least until it was night, was in front of me. I quickly grabbed the keys, walked into the building, and locked the door behind me before any of the reporters could get in. Of course, I could still see all of them through the windows and the glass door and their gaze pulled me down into a panic, but at least they couldn’t ask me anymore questions. 

I sat down on the floor, trying to ignore the reporters but soon, they all started knocking on the door. The banging echoed through my ears. Bang, Bang, Bang!   
Bang! Bang, bang! Each knock made my skin crawl and I quickly stood up, tears swelling in my eyes. I quickly stood up and looked back at the windows, my face red from trying to hold in my tears but I was failing. The reporters watched my every move as I walked to the windows and quickly grabbed the old curtains that was hanging by them. I closed the windows, blocking my view from the outside world. 

And darkness was brought upon the restaurant for I did not turn the lights on yet and the only lights there were was the sunlight creaking through the windows and the several dots was on the stage. Glowing dots— eyes— seemed to be staring right at me, examining my every move and looking into my soul. 

I heard a small creak in the distance and my heart stopped, when I realized that it wasn’t just a cracking noise, but this continued in succession. One after another after another. The cracking had a rhythm to it, almost like they were footsteps, and the glowing dots seemed to turn their sight in that direction. I held my breath and slowly inched towards the front door to try to run out of there for it sounded like someone was here.

Was it Vincent? How? The police were just here. They would have seen him. They would have done something. They would have- 

And then I took a wrong step and the floorboard creaked underneath me. I froze as a confused noise could be heard in the back of the building and then this was followed by a voice. “The hell? Who is here after…”

Wait… that voice was familiar. It didn’t belong to Vincent…

The lights in the back of the building clicked on and I looked over, tilting my head. I couldn’t see who was back there, but I was able to see the lights bouncing off the walls and make its way to my view. I continued to hear this person speak and I walked down the hallway in confusion. Soon enough, I managed to shake the scared feeling off me as I reached the hallways, and the reporters knocking on the door was becoming muffled the further away as I walked away.

Before I walked into to the break room, where I realized that was where the noise was coming from, I took a quick detour. I made my way to the corner of the building to see if something was still there or if I just imagined it the night before. I left the voices behind me and I walked up to the corner of the building where, I still found the outline of a door on the wall. Somehow the police did pound the door open or try to investigate what was inside and, it was still left alone after all these years… 

I hold my breath as I heard a voice whisper in my ears, commanding me to do something. “Open it. Open it.” The voice said and so… I decided to do just that before I could think. I took out the old key that I received the day before and I found a hole on the outlined door which happened to look like a keyhole. I bit my tongue and I quickly did what I was told without complaining and I unlocked the door. A soft click could be heard and the door slowly opened towards me, bringing forth a cloud of dust that made me sneeze. I was met with a simple wall on the other side, acting as a hallway to cover up the safe room, it was covered in holes and cobwebs.

Before I could walk inside it, a voice spoke up, “Jeremy? Is that you? Where did you go?” I finally realized the voice and who it belonged to. Why was Mike still here? I imagined he would have ran once he shift was over or… maybe he didn’t because he was waiting for his check. I cursed softly when I remembered this. 

I quickly turned away from this opened room and quickly walked towards the breakroom, holding my breath. I was about to apologize a lot to Mike about being late and how he was going to get paid right away, but I stopped myself. Mike wasn’t alone in the break room. Instead, right next to him in the couch he sat on, half asleep was Fritz. Why was he here?   



	12. So Little Pay For So Much Work

Once Mike saw me entering the break room, he squeaked and started flicking Fritz’s ear. “Hey, dude. Dude. Jeremy is here. We can finally get out of here.” Fritz only responded with a loud snore and he turned his body away from Mike, who sighed in annoyance. 

“Um, is everything okay here?” I spoke softly, not sure how I should take the sight I was seeing.

“It will be okay in a minute.” Mike grabbed a plastic cup from the table and walked over to the sink, where he filled the cup with very cold and chilled water. Mike then ran back over to Fritz, holding the cup as he chuckled darkly. I squeaked and I quickly stepped back, knowing exactly what would happen. 

“Hey, friend! Wake up!” Mike threw the cup at Fritz and water splashed everywhere in the breakroom. I squeaked and stepped back even more to trying to avoid the splash zone. 

The man lying on the couch suddenly gasped out and quickly sat up as water covered his body and he accidently breathed in some of it. The soaked man slowly moved his hair out of his face, and he glanced over at Mike. The two of them stared at one another for a bit as I awkwardly stood there, not sure what to do. 

Fritz looked over at Mike and his whole posture changed as he sat up straight and whipped off his clothes. He coughed and spoke in an almost professional voice, “Now, Mike, why would you do such a thing like that? I would have gotten up easily.” 

“You know, for someone who works as a mechanic you sound like a rich snob.” Mike started laughing a bit, and Fritz returned the laugh, being softer and gentler than Mike. 

“Um… guys?” I spoke softly and the two turned to me, tilting their heads. I took a moment to say what I wanted to. “Um, so there’s water all over the place now and… someone need to clean it up.” 

“Well, even though my friend here caused the mess… I will clean it up because you two have some business that you need to discuss.” Fritz got up and walked over to a counter where he took out a bunch of paper rolls. “Oh! Also hello Jeremy. It has been such a long time. How are you doing?” 

I decided to lie. “I’m alright… Um, but look at you. You’re completely different from how I’ve seen you last… you’re a lot more confident and sure about yourself.” 

Fritz walks over to the water and starts cleaning it up. “Oh, thank you Jeremy. It’s what happens when you run your own business I guess.”

“Wait… you run a business? Crap, we need to catch up later if that’s alright.” 

“It sounds like a splendid times. We should do that sometime and I’ll bring you to one of my favorite places to eat.” 

“Sounds like a fun time…” I smiled a bit before turning to Mike awkwardly and whispered. “You’re probably waiting for your check huh?” Mike only responded with a tick of his tongue and a nod. I breathed out. “Y-Yeah, sorry about being late… things happened last night.” 

“Yeah, I know.” Mike crossed his arms. “I was listening to the radio this morning before Fritz got here and before I took a nap. I only have two words and two words only, ‘Screw him.’ I hope he burns in the pits of hell for what he has done.”

“Isn’t that more than two words?” Fritz tilted his head.

“Y-Yes but, still… that bastard shouldn’t have been breathing for this long. I hope he never smiles again and-“ 

“Mike!” Fritz spoke up from where he was cleaning. “Is this why you said you only had two words? Since you apparently have many, many words and you didn’t want to go overboard?” 

“Yes, that’s why I said two words… I didn’t want to get into a rant but here we are. Jeremy, can we just get my check so I can shut up?”

I slowly nodded after watching Fritz sigh at his friend being a word can. “Yeah, we can do that. Want to come into Wyatt’s office and I can write the check there.” I waved to Fritz and he gave a polite bow. I couldn’t help but smile at this before I signaled for Mike to follow me. 

The two of us walked out of the breakroom, Mike having his hands deep in his pockets and slouching a bit. The two of us didn’t say anything to each other during our short walk to the office and I awkwardly did a short laugh halfway there because I had no idea what else to do. Mike tilted his head at this but decided not to say anything about my weirdness. 

I sighed and hugged myself a bit. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t even know my feelings towards anything anymore. Mike was loud but at least he knew his feelings towards all of this. Vincent sucked and this place wasn’t worth working for anymore. It was a short and sweet thought that anyone could understand, but I didn’t understand what I felt. Many times I wondered to myself if working here was even worth it anymore, but I always convince myself that it was. There’s only one reason to stay here and it was to help those kids… that was the only reason. It didn’t matter if I was terrified of this place or it tore down my self-esteem like a hammer to a wall. I could quit in a heartbeat and yet… I wouldn’t abandon this place, and the kids, never. And now I owned the place! I owned the place, and everything was already going downhill. The most loyal employee was revealed to be the killer and this place wasn’t going to run until he was caught because I wanted everyone to stay safe… What were my feelings towards Vincent now anyway? 

I didn’t hate him, or did I? He killed so many people and kids so of course I was disgusted by him and he never treated me well, so I wasn’t too close to him but… but I’ve known him for such a long time. We have gone through so much together even though he was the cause of most of these things happening. I think I was more disappointed in him than anything else. The almost friend I had… someone I spent years with… I was disappointed. I still couldn’t let myself believe that he did all those things.

Finally, we made it to the office, and I could finally stop thinking about all of this. I quickly walked into the office and looked through several of the drawers before I used Wyatt’s keys to unlock a bottom filing cabinet drawer and opened it. As I looked for the checks, Mike leaned against the door frame, humming softly. He glanced upwards at the door hanging over his head and then towards the button that would slam the door shut quickly.

“So… what would happen if I closed the door while I was standing here? Would it crush down onto me and kill me?” 

I found the checkbook that was hidden underneath a bunch of paper, and turned to Mike, shaking a little. “Why are we considering what the possibilities are? That sounds like an awful way to go.” 

` Mike shrugs. “Eh, better than being stuffed in a Fazbear Suit.” 

“Y-Yeah, that sounds like a terrible way to go… all those sharp and pointy animatronic parts and…” I quickly shook my head. “You know what. Let’s think about something else… Like signing this check… yeah, um, how much money do we owe you?”

Mike’s eyes sparkles. “One million dollars.”

I laughed a little at this answer and smiled a bit at Mike. “Honestly, I do think you do earn that much money but… the boss would break my neck if he learned that I gave you that much money.” Soon, I was able to find a calculator and I quickly used it to figure out how much I owed my friend. I quickly did the math before I wrote down the amount of the check, signed it and wrote whatever else I needed on the paper before I ripped it out of the checkbook and handed it to Mike. 

He took the check, smiling a bit but then he looked at the check. His smile quickly faded. “A hundred and 20 dollars? Seems like a rip off for risking my life for five nights straight… why minimum wage…” 

I frowned and stepped back. “I… I’m sorry. I wish I could give you more but…”

“The boss? Hm?” 

I slowly nodded and glanced around the office, staying silent. I took in my surroundings, and slowly laid my hand on top of the chair. Mike noticed the look on my face and then he realized something before he spoke up. “Wait, have you figured out who is going to be the night guard tonight?”

“I have…” 

Mike examined my face and I quickly looked away as Mike took a step closer to me. It then hit him, and his eyes widen. “Oh no. Shit… No, you are not going to be the night guard tonight. You are not putting yourself in danger too! What if you die, huh? Wyatt is gone. Vincent is on the run… If you died too, who would those kids have? Who? Caleb or Hailey? Sure… but like, you’re the one who knows the most about this stuff. You can’t get hurt. You’re too important for-“ 

“I-I’m not letting another employee die because of this, Mike…” I stepped back as I hugged myself and tears swelled in my eyes for a moment. “Not again… N-No more employees will get hurt. Okay…” I could see Mike’s mouth opening and I knew exactly what he was thinking. “No, I’m not going to let you take another nightshift. Don’t try to talk me out of this. I’m going to do this. No one else is going to be in danger.” 

“O-Only if you are sure about this… then I wish you luck.” Mike slowly breathed out before he walked over to me and hugged me tightly. I shuttered a little as he did this before I managed to gasp out a breath and shakenly hug back. Shaking, I tightened my hug and Mike let me hang there for a moment. 

It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when he finally let go of the hug was when confusion settled over me. Why would Mike care so much if I stayed alive or not? The man was so willing to leave and I didn’t blame him for having a big mouth… but why did he still want to give me his support after all the crap we threw at him. I tried my best to ask this question, but I couldn’t find the right words. 

Mike stepped back and moved the hair out of his face before he raised an eyebrow at me. “What? Am I that much of a jerk that it’s surprising that I can be a decent person?” Mike laughed a bit at this and patted my shoulder. “Dude… I have a girlfriend, soon to be wife that is so excited to have kids when we’re married. I used to not want kids but… the more she talks about it, the more excited I get to see their smiling faces and hear their laugh.” His voice dropped a little. “If… my kid was in the situation that those kids were in, I would fight so god damn hard for them… I would. So, I will help you somehow… even if it’s just hugging you and supporting you right now. So, I wish you luck and don’t die. Dying wouldn’t help anything currently.” 

I slowly nodded and whispered a soft, “Thank you.” 

“Pfft, it’s nothing. I’m just saying the truth at this point.”

“Well… you have a point… and thank you for making me realize that.” I spoke this softly and Mike gently ruffled my head in support. I tried to ruffle his hair back, but he still had on his cap and he wasn’t allowing me to remove it. 

I stuttered for a moment. “H-Hey. No fair. Let me return the gesture.”

“No way, kid. I’m not letting you ruin this perfect hair.” Mike laughed and I softly laughed at well, happy to have even the smallest reason to smile. Mike puffed out his chest, proud that he managed to make at least one person happy today. 

But this only lasted for a moment as, now that Mike had his check he didn’t have a reason to stay here any longer and so soon enough, him and Fritz were leaving the restaurant. They gave me their good lucks and their goodbyes and Mike stayed here for dinner and that was nice, but soon enough, they were gone. They walked out into the chaos that was the news crew and the reporters, all shoving their microphones and cameras into my poor friends’ faces. 

I watched this through the window, slowly peeking through the curtains, making sure they were okay. Overheard, dark clouds were lingering in the sky and was darkening the parking lot and the entire city. I couldn’t help but sigh in relief when it looked like they were handling the situation pretty well. Fritz was a big man and easily made it to the car, without being stopped but Mike seemed to linger back for a bit. Fritz made it to his car and turned around, rolling his eyes at the sight. 

I couldn’t hear what was happening, but I could see Mike speaking to one of the reporters, his smile so wide I was blinded by his teeth. His chest seemed to expand and his shoulders rose up for a moment before I could see that he was laughing a bit as his shoulders lowered and he breathed out. He then patted one of the reporters backs and finger gunned another one as he winked. He said a few words, but I was unable to read what he was saying. Was he making a show for these reporters? It seemed like it… well that’s going to be interesting to see on the news since no one else seemed to be talking to the reporters. 

Mike only talked to them for a few minutes before he pointed to Fritz’s car, almost like he was saying that he needed to go. The reporters almost seemed to chase Mike as he turned away and started walking towards the car and soon enough, Mike was leaving. The reporters looked at each other, not sure what to do… but then one of them suddenly saw me peeking through the window and pointed at me. 

I squeaked as all the reporters seemed to turn their attention towards me and started walking back towards the door, and to the window I was at. They only took a few steps before I squealed and quickly closed the curtains once again and backed away. I held my chest for a moment, breathing a little heavily as I imagined what must have been going on outside… okay, it probably wasn’t that much as the reporters had no one to talk to and they only were filming but still. It was a bit nerve-racking. 

I sighed and finally started to turn the lights on across the building to make things a little less scary. But even as the lights flooded the rooms and I could see everything around me, my spine was still chilled, and my heart was pounding. I was the only one here, in this huge building. Every step I made the building creaked and moaned. Was that another footstep I heard or was it just the echoing off the walls?

I never liked being here by myself. It made me remember how vulnerable I was and how easy it can be for someone to attack me if they wanted to. But I was alone. I shouldn’t have worried. It was okay. Everything was okay-

Suddenly I heard a jingle ringing throughout my ears, and I froze for a moment. I knew that jingle. Oh gosh… it was that jingle. The same one Wyatt heard before he was… 

I slowly started to back out of the breakroom that I was currently standing in and I glanced around, covering my ears. Where was it coming from? I didn’t know… It seemed to be coming from the walls and was shaking the lights. I creeped down the hallway, ready to run and cry like a child if anyone came up to attack me. 

But as I stepped into the main room, the music seemed to dissolve into the air and there was nothing. Nothing was moving around. Nothing was making music or a sound. I slowly breathed out, trying to relax, but I couldn’t. 

At the back of the main room was the animatronics. They haven’t moved or were making noise. They were acting exactly how animatronics would work when the place wasn’t running and that was, the were completely still— stagnated. Then why did a chill go down my spine and I became colder the longer I looked at them. 

Holding my breath, I slowly started walking towards the stage. I slowly sat down at the edge of the stage when I reached it and I crossed my legs, circling my thumbs around each other. I slowly breathed out and looked back over to the tall animatronic and smiled sadly. “Hey Freddy… Chica… Bonnie…” I smiled over at Pirates Cove for a moment. “Foxy…” 

I paused, trying to figure out what to do or say. “So, um… you might be wondering why there’s no one here today and why it’s just me and you guys… Um, well we found him. Well, he’s always been here but we found out who hurt you. We did and… he’s somewhere out there. Everyone is trying to look for him right now and bring him to justice.” I stood up onto the stage and I walked to the kids. I gently squeezed their hands in encouragement, and I couldn’t help but smile as I said the next thing.

“And once that bad, bad man is down, you all will be free. You’ll be at peace. Wouldn’t that be great, huh? I… I think it will be. I just want you all to be happy. You know that? Right?” 

I almost hoped to hear the animatronics to say something. Maybe a cheer or a noise of glee or satisfaction at the news that they will be free and no longer trapped in these suits soon. And if they could hear me in there, I knew that they must have been happy at this news. Their hearts must have been filled with hope and if they could have talked, they would have cheered or even cry out in joy. If they could have moved, the kids would have jumped, spun around, and hugged each other. These kids… these poor, poor children. I hoped to god that they knew they would be happy again soon. 

I smiled a little before slowly backing away from the animatronics, my hands shaking and my breath shallow. I examined the robots in front of me and I stared at the ground, not sure what else to say. “Well, um… I should prepare myself for work. You know how the night shift can be sometimes. Got to make sure no one is breaking in to steal the prizes. You know how people are sometimes.” I tried my best to laugh as my chest tightened and my legs almost buckled. “So, um… hope you have a good day and I’ll see ya tonight.” 

I waved to the kids before I slowly stepped off the stage. I didn’t turn my head away from them as I slowly started walking backwards to the breakroom. I was hoping to see them move at least a little bit even though it wasn’t night. I was hoping to hear them squeal in excitement, but they did not have the proper voice box to do so… I just wanted to see them happy again. 

As I finally made it to the hallway, I gave up for they have done nothing. I turned and started walking down the hallway, but the moment I did this, I heard something. I paused for a moment as I heard a soft giggle that almost no one would have been able to hear but it rung in my ears, brightening up the darkness and heaviness of my soul. 

Quickly, I stepped back out of the hallway and turned back to look at the stage, expecting to see something but… nothing had changed. Nothing at all. I didn’t know what else to expect but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by this. I slowly breathed out and hugged myself tightly, watching the animatronics for a few more seconds, whispering softly to them. 

Finally, I decided that there was nothing else I could do at that moment. There was nothing else but to get ready for tonight and pray that they will not try to hurt me too much. I stepped back into the hallway and headed towards the backroom, where I would spend the next few hours, trying to relax and prepare for the night.   



	13. There's a Night 6?!?

Tick, tick, tick. 

The wind had started to blow hard and as I peaked out the window, minutes before my shift started. I noticed raindrops hitting against the glass like bullets. As the storm finally settled over the city, the reporters ran to their vans and sped off to avoid becoming soaked. Lightening flashed overheard and the thunder pounded against my ears. This was a big storm. One that would last throughout the whole evening and threaten to soak the already decaying building. It was a storm that would be deadly to anyone standing outside.

Tick, tick, tick. 

But I wasn’t worried about that for the time was counting down to midnight. Soon I found myself sitting in the office, hugging the monitor tightly like it was my life source. I quickly glanced over at the clock, holding my breath. Ten more minutes. And then 9 more minutes…. It was so close to when the animatronic’ s night roaming systems would be activated and they would be able to roam.   
They would walk around, trying to find any noise or movement. Oh gosh, I hoped they wouldn’t move around a lot today. But it was the end of the week. It was when they were the most active. If they were going to get anything, it would be tonight. 

I was so tempted to close the doors to the office the moment it turned midnight, so they couldn’t enter but… no, I couldn’t. Crap… why did it take power for the doors to close? I knew it was for safety, that if there was a power outage, I wouldn’t be trapped in this office, but still. I would rather that when the power went down then a free pass for whoever wanted to come in here. 

And why was the power so low at night. It was like the boss or whoever was running this placed wanted the night guards to die. Wyatt always complained about how little power he had and then on the night that he did run out… Oh gosh… I was going to run out of power tonight, wasn’t I? I didn’t know what I was doing. How could I? I haven’t done this in years, and I was suddenly doing one of the hardest nights of the week. I closed my eyes tightly and hugged the monitor some more as I muttered softly. 

I could very well died tonight… but I wasn’t going to. I wasn’t going to die when Mike was rotting for me and when Wyatt was already gone. I will not die since the kids were already so close to becoming free and when Vincent was out there somewhere. I needed to stay alive… I needed to.

I slowly opened my eyes, and a chill went throughout my body. We had a minute. One mere minute. Crap… I needed to prepare. 

I quickly scooted the chair towards the middle of the room, and I started playing one of Wyatt’s tapes through the phone to try to distance myself as I worked. There was 6 hours of shift. It wasn’t that much. Anyone could survive that. A lump stuck to my throat as I thought that. 

I slowly sat onto my chair and sighed, glancing around at the dark and eerie room. There was a soft buzz in my ears, but I ignored it as I stared at the clock. 30 more seconds until midnight. I was as ready as I every would be. At least I hoped but then…

I heard a crash down the hall and towards the main area. The sound of glass shattering onto the ground stung in my ears and I quickly stood up, shaking. Holding my breath, I took a step towards the office door, shaking. Something slammed onto the floor as the glass shattered and… did I hear something muttering? 

I was slowly close to peeking out of the office but then, midnight came. There was a soft buzzing coming from the clock and I yelped. I quickly walked up to the clock on the desk and it took me a few seconds for me to silence it due to how old it was. I growled softly as the buzzing would not stop when I pressed the button on top of it but after several attempts, I managed to make it silent. And right then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. The quiet stomping of feet echoed in the hallway as something quickly moved pass made me shutter and I quickly turned around, but whatever was there…. Was gone. 

I slowly breathed out, shaking. Someone was here. I didn’t know who or what but that crash and something running made my skin crawl. I held my breath and I slowly took one step out of the office, looking back towards the breakroom.  
Something was there, in the corner of the dark building, lingering by the hidden door that was now wide open. Gosh, I wish I had a flashlight. I debated on speaking up but decided against it for I knew that whoever was standing there, was staring right at me. They took a step towards me, their brown eyes seemingly to glow… or were their eyes blue? 

They stepped towards me and a gloved hand wrapped around the edges of the door, its wood almost falling apart as the figure did this. His heavy breath echoed throughout the room and another creaking on the floor indicated that he was walking towards me but… then it stopped as a sound loomed over behind me. 

Dum, dum, dum. 

The figure yelped and quickly drove into the safe room and the door slammed close behind him. I was tempted to follow but the loud clanging behind me made my blood cold. I quickly dived into the office and closed the door behind me without daring to look. 

The door slammed, brushing against my skin before I quickly fell into my spinning chair. I hugged the monitor close to my chest, my own breath heavy in my ears and I could barely focus. It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m not going to die. I won’t. 

My hand shaking, I slowly pushed the hallway light button to check and see who was looming by my door. The hallway lights flashed on and through the window, Chica was towering towards the ceiling. She stared directly at me with her mouth open. I heard the flash of lightening in the distance and I streaked as Chica’s eyes turned black in the flashing light of the lightening. 

I muttered softly. “Hi Chica… H-How… How have you been? Don’t mind me. I’m just working…” 

Chica brought up her hand and up gently placed it on the glass, her head tilting.   
“Good Chica… just go back to your stage, please. I need power for the night, okay?” I glanced at my monitor, shaking as I watched the battery power brain in front of me. I needed to open this door soon but Chica wouldn’t go away. 

I tried to speak to Chica again, but then I heard the running. Someone else was coming but it wasn’t the man who broke in. No… no, no, no, no. Not another one. Dear gods in heaven… but the running continued. I lunged towards the other door and I quickly closed it as a flash of a shiny hook and red fur went before my vision. The moment the door slammed in front of me, the metal frame began to shake as something pounded against it.

I fell onto the ground, shaking, and I quickly covered my ears. I stared at the monitor as 20% of the power quickly drained due to the pounding and I knew with this small mistake, I was going to die for it. Tears swelled in my eyes as the spine tingling pounding soon stopped and I quickly opened the door Foxy must have left. 

I quickly checked the other window and Chica had finally left. Resting my shoulders for a moment, I slowly opened the other door. I let myself glance back towards the safe room for a split second. The door was only opened an inch, and it was impossible to see inside. All I could see was the water dripping through the ceiling due to the heavy storm. 

I didn’t allow myself to think more of this as I slowly walked back into the office and made myself focus on the work again. Was it even possible to survive the night at this point? I really didn’t know but I wasn’t going to allow myself to die that easily. I had promised to help these kids and I intended to keep that promise.

Holding my breath, I did everything that was needed for me to get through the night. I couldn’t just have the monitor on all night, that would only kill the battery. I held my breath throughout most of the night as I checked both sides of my office, and I only dared to turn the lights on for a second or two so I could check in the darkness of the hallway. Oh gosh… why was it so dark? 

The eerie humming tickled my ears and the squeaking of the light whenever I turned them on made my hair stand. Half the time, the kids were so quiet that I didn’t even know when they would be standing outside my door. Rarely I would be lucky, and hear their heavy footsteps coming my way and stopping right in front of one of the doors. It didn’t matter if I heard them or if I spotted them through the hallway lights, once they were mere inches away from the door, I quickly closed it and I watched the power drain away. 

I did my best to not stare at the monitor and only check on it sometimes as I hoped this would save power. But I still had to check on something every so often. As long as I kept my eyes on Pirates’ Cove, Foxy shouldn’t come out again. He loved attention but also despised it and he knew whenever I was looking at him. If I forgot about him, he would get mad and crave the attention again and run to my office. I was never going to forget him. Never…

I would never forget those kids. 

I was making good time and slowly the hours were ticking by. But I still couldn’t think about the man that had ran in here for I was too busy with keeping myself alive. But I knew the man didn’t have to worry. He was in a safe room… Maybe I should go in there too. Maybe I should make a run for it. That seemed like the safest opinion. I was foolish to come here and think that the night guard duty was really needed. If anyone tried to hurt them, the kids can defend themselves, right? I didn’t know anymore but… the most important thing was that I survived. I needed to survive, for them. 

I slowly turned the right hallway light on and breathed out when I saw that nothing was there. If I was going to try to make a run for the safe room, I needed to do it now. Not allowing myself to think, I tensed up and I quickly stepped out of the office. 

I almost made a run towards the safe room. I only managed to take a step or two towards it when I froze and I quickly stepped back, falling onto my back, and my heart pounding up my throat. What was that? I’ve never seen it before. Who was it? Why did my head hurt, and my palms sweat as I stared at it? 

At first, I thought it was Freddy, hiding in the shadows by the secret door but… that couldn’t be right. No, no. It?... They?... Whatever?... wasn’t Freddy. Their shape and form was large and towering and looked exactly like the cuddly bear but their fur was purple, perfect for blending into the shadows. They weren’t solid though and I was unable to figure out where their form ended, and the wall started for the edges of their body drifted off into mist. The darkened mist fell to the ground and swept across the checkered pattern. 

I squeaked softly and stumbled onto my feet as I leaned against the nearest wall and stared at the creature. They weren’t doing much, just examining the closed door to the safe room but once it heard me get up, its head creaked and slowly turned towards me. Its black and caved in eyes staring right at my soul. 

Before I let it do another thing, I quickly ran off and dived back into the office, my body shaking and my heavy breath clogging my ears. As I attempted to calm myself down, I quickly checked up on Foxy so I wouldn’t have to worry about him for another few minutes. My hands shook and it was difficult for me to do anything with them, but I managed to check my surroundings as my mind spun and my stomach twisted onto itself. 

What was that? I didn’t know. How could I know? I’ve never seen something like that before. N-Never. Never, never… Was there another kid I wasn’t aware of? No… that couldn’t do it. We would know, right? 

And then I heard the giggling echoing in the halls as I continued to work. It was a child’s laughter. A young girl’s… but who’s… who’s was it? Were they here to hurt me as well? 

I will think about this in the morning. I had more pressing matters to attend to. I needed to survive, then I could really think about this… and so that is what I did. I continued to work and there wouldn’t be another event for another hour.

The next thing happened when I checked in on Foxy again. There wasn’t anything unusually at first. His hook was just poking out of the curtains and I made a mental note to check in on Foxy more. I was close to shutting off the monitor again when the screen began to glitch and stutter. Words flashed across the screen and undefined voices tried to speak out of the monitor, ‘It’s me. It’s me.’ I yelped and quickly shut off the monitor, not sure what to do. 

I almost foolishly threw the monitor away from me, but I managed to keep it close to my chest. The room became colder and as I slowly looked up from my screen, and I froze at what sat before me. 

There he was. A metal, golden bear that was sitting on the floor, slumped over. His yellow bear head was tilted up, its black, empty eyes staring at me. He was covered in dents and the microphone that laid in his hands was threatening to fall out of his limp palms. His feet were placed firmly on the floor and he was almost hugging his legs… that is if he could move. 

There was nothing but silence in the office for the next several moments. The light in the office flickered for a moment and the looming quiet made me sink into my chair shaking. I stared at the golden bear for what seemed like an entire minute before the lights flickered and darkness settled into the office for a second. 

I blinked and the lights were back on… but the golden bear sitting in front of me was gone. Where did he gone? I couldn’t tell but there wasn’t even a golden bear in our restaurant anymore so… was it even here? Was the robot sitting in my office a part of my imagination or was it something from a different plane of existence? 

Well, there was at least two kids here that I knew didn’t have a physical body and… there was two odd creatures I saw tonight…

Before I was allowed to continue my thought, I suddenly remembered where I was, and I quickly checked outside my office doors to make sure no one was around. And that’s how it was for a bit. I was making good time with the little energy I had but that didn’t matter with how much I lost within the first hour. I still tried to survive!

I tried so hard. I made the perfect moves and managed to close the doors right on time. I remembered Foxy and he didn’t come back for a second time. It was perfect. It was all perfect. I shouldn’t die tonight but why was the power draining so fast still. It continued to go down and down. It didn’t care if I was perfect for there was barely any energy to relay on. And I still had two hours left when I was down to the last ten percent of my energy. 

I was doomed. That much was clear. I tried my best, but I made my major mistakes hours ago and there was no way to fix it. And even when I wasn’t doing anything, why was my power still draining? It was at nine percent now. 

And then eight… Oh gosh, what was I going to do? Seven… could I do anything? Six… There must have been a way to defend myself… Five… for Chica, and Bonnie, and Foxy… Four… but they weren’t the real danger when the power went out… Three… It was Freddy. He would come here right away… Two… and then I was doomed… One… I was going to die. 

And then the power went off. 

The dim lights around me blinked off and the nearby fan slowly stopped spinning. There was a loud cluck as the doors rose opened, destroying all my defenses in a moment. In the darkness of the night, a flash of lightening from around the corner was the only light source I had for a moment but even that disappeared quickly. I was in darkness again. The abyss stuck to my skin and tried to drag me down with it but I didn’t let this darkness pull me down. 

I did my best to hold my head up high as I held my breath, but this didn’t last long as I jumped and began shaking at something. As I crawled towards the corner of the office to try to hide, he appeared. White lights appeared though the left door of the office and all I could see in the darkness was his eyes and mouth as the lights flashed. Freddy was here to say hello but first he needed to preform for me. 

A light jingle echoed around the office and I covered my ears, shaking. I glanced over to the other open door and I debated on running but would that help? He would easily catch me. Maybe, maybe if I stayed here, he would not see or hear me in the darkness. This was the safest thing to do as the jingle continued to play. The jingle that brought so many laughs was now here to bring my end. 

I held my breath, watching the bear and trying my best not to panic. But this was fruitless as soon the jingle finished, and the lights from the bear blinked off. I was left in complete darkness again, but I wasn’t alone. I heard the heavy footsteps coming closer and closer to me. The creaking of something bending over were bullets in my ears and I felt the heat of something on my skin. 

He was right over top of me. This was where I was going to die.


	14. These Poor Kids...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little warning: This chapter will contain some violence and blood

I held my breath, knowing that this was the last breath that I would hold. I slowly smelled the dust in the air and heard the creaking of metal. This was the last thing I knew I would smell and hear for this was the end. This was the last I would ever have, and I was just waiting now. Any second, Freddy would grab me and pull me away from this living world. 

It was only a matter of seconds. 

But it didn’t come. After what felt like a minute, something happened, and I jumped. But it wasn’t from Freddy scaring me… no… it was because the lights in the hallway suddenly jolted on. The fan on the desk started spinning, bringing a chill to the room and the monitor on the floor started flickering. 

I froze up for a moment and I glanced around, not sure what to do but there wasn’t anything I could do. Freddy was still there, right by my side, mere inches away. His large hand was so close to my arm and I quickly backed away from him, pushing my chair at his legs but this didn’t do much to hold him back. His clanging leg stepped towards me, the weight of his body crushing the chair, bending it in many places. He loomed over top of me and tried to swipe his metal hand at me… but halfway through the swing, he suddenly froze and there was a small ding coming from his metal skull. 

“Enough!” A female voice ringed out throughout the restaurant and I covered my ears, shaking. It was a young voice, belonging to a girl, but it was still demanding and powerful. “Enough of this torture!... Please, he isn’t who you’re after.”

The voice drifted away from the office and moved towards the hallway. “Follow me… Follow me.” 

Freddy’s hand slowly fell to his side and he stared at me for a moment before stepping back. Almost like he wasn’t in control of himself anymore, he slowly turned towards the office door and walked out, leaving me behind to cowering in the corner of the office. 

I stayed there for a moment, shaking uncontrollable but thankful… thankful… I wasn’t dead. I held onto chest and I breathed out. Tears swelled in my eyes and not knowing what else to do, I curled up on the floor. I was alive. I was still here. That little girl saved me. She saved me. 

I held my arms close to my chest and was tempted to stay laying there for a bit, but I knew I couldn’t. The motioned flickered by my hands and I remembered that I was working. I quickly jumped to my feet and almost tripped over the destroyed chair but regaining my balance, I stared at the monitor to check on everyone and how much power I had and… what I found was strange because looking at the power there was left, I noticed that the percentage kept fluctuating. First it was ten and then it was 84 and the 57… and it wouldn’t say on one number. I didn’t know what else to do with this information, so I slowly inched towards the doors and I closed them. I glanced back at the screen and breathed out slowly as I realized that mostly everyone was back in their places on the stage… mostly everyone. 

To my pleasant surprised they closed and for once all night, I felt safe. 

But this didn’t last long when I heard a howl erupt out from outside the office. I squeaked and I ran towards the office window to look out and at first, I couldn’t see anything in the dark hallways. But then a flashing light erupted throughout the hallway and I had to crane my neck to look down towards the safe room. My eyes widen at what I saw, and I quickly decided to risk it and open my door to see whatever was out there. 

I took a single step out of the office in time to watch the safe room door close as a shine escaped into the room. I would question who was in there if it wasn’t for the other big problem in the room… the shadow Freddy was no longer in the darkness of the corner, they were roaming around somewhere but even that didn’t matter for there was something in front of me. 

Scattered across the floor in front of the safe room were the remines of what was left of a robotic bear. His hand was by my feet and his metal skull was laying in the corner of the hallway. Someone had torn him apart. Someone has hurt him and now he was nothing but parts and pieces across the floor. 

Tears swelling in my eyes, I slowly felt my legs give in and I fell to the ground. I slowly picked up some of the wires and nuts on the ground, shaking. My gaze couldn’t leave the mess for a good minute… Oh gosh, he was gone. Someone had torn this poor kid apart and now I had no idea where he was… was he still in the robot, a million pieces across the room or was his spirit somewhere else? W-Was he okay? Was he hurt? I couldn’t imagine how this wasn’t painful to him.

I… I am so so sorry. Oh gods, I couldn’t save you… You got hurt and I wasn’t there to protect you as someone here had decided to hurt you. I don’t know who, but they hurt you. I am sorry…. Please forgive me. I will find a way to make this better. I will-

“Follow me. Follow me.” The young female voice was now echoing in the main area of the building. I heard a loud creaking sound as something stepped off the stage and landed on the ground below. 

My lungs tightened for a moment as I realized what was happening. Someone was leading these poor kids to their doom. Why was this girl doing that? Did she not realize that she would hurt them? W-Why did she want them to suffer?

Without hesitation, I quickly jumped to my feet and ran towards the main room, not caring that I would be dead if the animatronics saw me in the open. I needed to save them. That’s the only thing that mattered. 

I almost tripped a few times as I ran but I managed to catch myself against the nearby wall. My breath heavy, I managed to enter the main room, the pouring rain outside skittering across the roof and it’s skipping sound flowed throughout the room. Lightening flashed and only for a moment, the dark room with lit up. This was enough time for me to realize the problem and my hair stood on its ends. 

Where was Bonnie? Just a minute ago he was here, on stage with China but now he was gone.

I glanced around, trying to see through the darkness but I couldn’t. It was difficult for me to even look at the hands in front of my face, let alone know if Bonnie was still in this room. Or was he gone, and the girl lead him down the other hallway to get to their destination. That was always an option and it wouldn’t take long for me to learn the truth.   
A screeching echo erupted throughout the walls of the restaurant and I froze up but only for a second. My body becoming cold, I slowly turned towards the screams and I felt a tear prick my eye. I was tricked. That girl brought me here and quickly brought poor Bonnie to his doom. I needed to stop it. I needed to do something before that man in the shadows finished the job. 

I sprinted towards the back of the building again, as tears rolled down my cheeks. What would I even do when I get there? This person could take down giant animatronics and tear them to pieces in minutes. They knew what they were doing and knew the weak spot of them if they could do that. What chance did I have at trying to stop them? I didn’t even have any weapons on me, and I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t-

Before I could let my mind continue down this rabbit hole, something stuck out in front of me and I fell, my face slamming into the ground. I screeched out in pain and I held my face, feeling blood drip down my nose. I didn’t allow myself to stay laying on the ground though as the painful screams down the hallway shattered against my ears. Limping for a moment, I slowly used the nearby wall to help me on my feet and I continued to hold my nose, shaking throughout my body. 

I focused myself to ignore my pain as I went back to speeding down the hallway to get to the screams but… I was too late. Oh gods, I was too late. Someone was standing overtop and torn apart rabbit robot. They had met the same fate as Freddy. I glanced down at my feet and saw that his blue, bent up head was right there. I choked out a sob and a moment passed before I forced myself to swallow my cries. 

My jaw trembling, I slowly looked back over at this figure. In the darkness of the hallway, I couldn’t see who was standing there. The only thing that helped me notice a few features was from the dim light from my office a foot away. I could tell that he was a man from his broad shoulders and tall figure. Something shined from his palm and I could tell from his motions that he was staring right at me. 

The words stuck to my throat but only for a moment when I managed to say, “W-Who are you? Why are you-“ 

I was unable to say anything else as the man, growled and he chucked the shining object at me. I squeaked as suddenly something grabbed my legs and pulled me to the ground before the thing that was thrown pierced into my chest. My body slammed against the floor a second time and as I landed, a ringing shook through my head as I slowly glanced around. Just behind me, I realized the thing that was thrown was a red ax, the blade was chipped in some areas and the wooden handle was covered in splinters. I gasped out in fear and I slowly held my chest, thankful that the blade wasn’t in my skin…

I slowly looked over at the man, who had taken a step towards me. He wanted to kill me, just like he tore apart the other animatronics. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. I whimpered softly and with the second step he made towards me, I slowly sat up and I tried to scoot back towards the ax to defend myself. I couldn’t make it far though as a voice sung across the building. 

“Follow me. Follow me~” 

The man glanced over towards the main room and a soft curse could be heard. Wait, was his voice familiar. Before I could process this, he took one last look at me and ran towards the safe room to hide into it once again. 

My legs shaking, I slowly stood up and I too watched back over to the main room, not sure what to do. I need to stop this though. No more of those kids would be hurt under my watch. I promised them I would help. I couldn’t let them get hurt. Whoever was coming this way, I would stop them. I will-

I squeaked as something wrapped around my foot and pulled on it. I fell towards the ground and was dragged towards the office. I yelled out and tried kicking my foot away from whatever was dragging me. Its tight grip would not loosen. “No, no. What are you doing? D-Don’t hurt them. Stop it! No!” 

I was pulled into the corner of the office and the grip quickly let go of me as the office doors slammed shut. I used the table to get to my feet and through the window, a robot chicken was walking down the hall, innocently. My eyes widen and I quickly pressed the button to open the door but… it wouldn’t. I stared at the button and tried again to press the button, but nothing would happen. I tried again, and again…. And then a fifth time but the door wouldn’t budge. I slowly backed away from the door and I quickly tried the other one, but this wouldn’t open either. Sweat soaked down my neck and I kicked the door, softly yelling. 

No, no, no, no. Why would they do this? Why would they want to hurt them?

I started banging on the window, attempting to shatter it but was unsuccessful. Tears swelling in my eyes, I threw the fan at the glass and the fan fell to the ground by my feet. I leaned against the window and I stared down the hall, shaking at the sight of a black bear leading a chicken to her doom. I screamed out, trying to get the poor girl’s attention but she couldn’t hear me through the metal door and as I pounded on the window, it did nothing. 

Nothing, nothing, nothing. And then the man walked out of his room, with the ax clenched in his palms. Without hesitation, the man lifted his ax and ran towards the poor girl. I squeaked and quickly covered my eyes as I dove under the window, my body trembling. I didn’t dare look to watch the damage as my heavy breath almost took me. Gosh, that kid… that poor, poor kid. She was being torn apart as I sat here, unable to do anything. Why was this happening? Why couldn’t I do anything? Why would you let these kids suffer even more?

A hollow of glitching screams erupted throughout the building and I covered my ears tightly, as tears swelled in my eyes. A blinding flash of light came into the room as the mechanical parts were probably being torn apart and I slowly crawled underneath my desk to lay on the ground and hug my legs. I started to mutter, “I’m sorry.” Repeatedly, hoping it would somehow help but it wouldn’t. 

It didn’t last long. It was fairly quick before silence fell throughout the restaurant again and I knew the deed was done. I heard my chest tightly as I glanced around the dark office, slowly counting the seconds in my head. What should I do? I really didn’t know but after ten seconds has passed, I slowly moved away from the desk. My jaw trembled as I inched to the door and I closed my eyes tightly as I tried to open the door a final time. 

This time, it worked. 

The door slid upwards and I was met with the gruesome scene on the other side, with the man nowhere in sight. Her mechanical parts were scattered about with everyone else’s and her yellow, bent up head was right by my foot. I gently picked it up and stared deeply in the one blue eye that was still in the head. I hugged the head tightly to my chest and I tried my best to clear my head so I could think. 

There was only one of the robots left. Only one more and then what? Did that ghost only want those kids to suffer? W-Why? Just why? 

I did my best to raise my voice and have it echo throughout the building. “Why are you doing this? S-Stop! Oh, please just stop.” I stepped out of the office and glanced down the hallway, staring into the darkness. “They have already suffered enough! Don’t do this to them! Just s-stop!” 

This was a fruitless attempt for soon I was hearing that voice again and my heart stopped. “Follow me.” 

I stepped down the hall for a moment, not sure what I was going to do. I wanted to help. I needed to save these kids but what could a mere human do against these ghosts and a lunatic with an ax-

A pain suddenly spread across my injured shoulder as something dug down into it. 

I gasped out in pain and something shoved my back, making me fall to the ground and cough up blood. Immediately, I tried to get up, but something stepped onto my back, a large weight falling onto me. I gagged out and tried to free myself, but more weight pressed down onto me. 

I quickly tried to adjust myself so I can look over me and see what was happening and a shiny blade of an ax lingered next to my face as lightening flashed throughout the room so I could see purple, long hair poking out of the man above’s hood.

Shaking, I softly spoke out. “V-Vincent?...”

The lingering voice in the distance was slowly coming closer and closer. “Follow me. Follow me.” 

“Quit you!” His raspy voice snarled at me. “I just wanted to stop by and give you a little hello, but I came too late! No matter though. You’re finally in my grasp.” 

Vincent chuckled darkly and raised the ax in his arms but before he could strike me down, a red flash came over us and a hook swiped across Vincent’s face. He screeched out in pain and dropped his ax, the blade falling and piercing the ground a mere inch away from my face. Then the red figure pushed Vincent back and he collided against the closest wall. 

Unable to do much, I quickly crawled out of the way and rolled back into the office, my hand wrapped around my bleeding shoulder as my head spun for a moment. I coughed again and I quickly scooted over to one of the drawers to get out some bandages since with this job, there was always some here. 

As I patched up my injury, I did my best to watch the scene that was unfolding outside of the office. A large robotic fox had come onto the scene as he was staring down at Vincent, who was leaning against a wall. The fox’s fur had fallen apart in many different areas to reveal his mechanical skeleton underneath it. The fox growled and sparks flew from his body as death filled his eyes. He would take care of this murderer once and for all. At least I hoped, but with the smile spreading across Vincent’s face, this would be a challenge.

A small laugh left his mouth and Vincent puffed out his chest. “Oh? What are you going to do? Huh? Kill me? Haha. Too late, I already killed you.” 

Foxy suddenly tried to attack Vincent, as he pounced towards the man like a real fox. Vincent watched Foxy closely and he pushed himself off the wall and rolled across the ground so he can dodge and get closer to the ax that laid on the floor. As his fingers creeped over the ax handle, he gently touched his bleeding face and examined the blood for a moment.

Foxy quickly turned towards Vincent, standing on his hind legs, and still growling but Vincent only laughed as he flinched some blood to the side. Foxy didn’t see this as funny as he swiped his hand at Vincent and managed to grab him of his throat. He picked up Vincent and slammed him against the wall, his head hitting against the wood. 

Vincent smiled more and he continued to laugh. It was dark and chilly, almost like it’s sound brought my own skin to freeze over. Vincent still had the ax in his hands, so it was easy to get freed. He turned the handle in his hands for a moment before he swung it at Foxy, striking at his hand, hand and fast. 

I don’t know how he did it. I really don’t but he managed to cut off Foxy’s arm in the state he was in. Sparks erupted throughout the hallway and I covered my eyes for a moment, yelping at the poor sight. Vincent landed on the ground and quickly pulled the robotic hand off his throat. He then kicked Foxy’s stomach and he stumbled back, giving Vincent enough time to stand up straight and step back a few feet. 

He glared at me for a moment before pointing to the ax and then to me. I stepped back, tempting to run away at that moment, but I couldn’t. I knew staying was a death sentence, but I needed to watch these kids. I needed to protect them somehow. 

Before I could do anything, Vincent was so caught up in watching me that he didn’t have time to react to the fox pouncing on him, swinging his hook. Vincent fell back onto his back as Foxy loomed over Vincent and strike across his face again. Vincent yelled out in pain as he covered his eye and blood tinkled through his fingers.

“Oh, naughty fox. Someone needs to teach you-“ Vincent coughs for a moment, little, red drops escaping his mouth. “manners!” 

Vincent clenched his teeth, and he gave a large kick forward onto Foxy’s chest. As Vincent did this, something sound like it broke in inside the fox’s chest and he stumbled back. Sparks flew off his chest and Vincent quickly stood up, almost hugging his ax. 

The voice box in Foxy’s chest started to glitch and echo across the halls. “Arg, my maty’s. Welcome aboard! Would you like to be a part of my crew?” Vincent couldn’t help but laugh at his broken state, even though his eye was swollen shut and he would probably never be able to see out of it again. The Fox growled at this and charged at Vincent one last time, the man raising his ax in the air and already swinging it by the time his enemy got to him. 

I didn’t dare watch the rest of the scene. I hide once again, underneath the table and I covered my eyes. If anyone could take down Vincent, it would be Foxy, but I knew this hope was in vain the moment he managed to cut his arm off. He was going to be cut up too and as I heard the screaking pains just outside the office, I cursed softly at myself for being so cowardly and not protecting those kids when I promise I would. 

I promise Wyatt and I promised them… but I failed. Oh gods, I failed…

My eyes tightly closed, I almost flinched when I felt something gently take my hand. It was a small and very cold hand and in the wind from the fan, I thought I heard something. It was the same voice that led all the kids here. “It’s okay.”

I quickly opened my eyes and glanced around, trying to see if someone was there but… I no longer felt the grasp on my hand and the voice was drifting off in the distance. “It’s me…” 

Silence fell throughout the area and as the sparks in the hallway faded, I realized that the fight outside was over. I was almost too scared to look out and see the terrible sight, but I knew that I had to. I needed to be completely sure that the kid was…. Gods… and Vincent was out there, waiting to kill me… I couldn’t let him make the jump on me.   
Holding my breath, I crawled over to the hallway, just in time to see Vincent limping into the safe room once again. He moaned in pain as a trail of blood spread across the floor behind him. He must have been very injured after that fight but that didn’t matter compared to the destruction he left in the hall. 

Foxy… oh dear, Foxy… had met the same fate as the other kids.


	15. An Old Yellow Friend Hiding in the Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains gore and can be very gruesome to some readers

What do I do? Oh gods… the kids. All of them… Every single one of them… They no longer had a body to call their home. Where were they now? Were they just lost spirits in the rooms like the puppet and Golden Freddy are? Would they too just be a voice in the wind or a slumped over illusions who couldn’t move.

Tears swelled in my eyes as I slowly stood up, leaning against the hallway wall. I stared down at my palms and shook my head, believing that these kids would be suffering even more now. What was I going to do? How was I going to help them? How? This was all my fault. I have failed them.

And why would Vincent do such a thing?

Vincent…

That bastard… 

I slowly looked up from my hands and glared at the entrance to the safe room. This wasn’t my fault at all. It wasn’t. It was his! He caused all of this. He was the cause of every single misfortune that has happened in this place. He was the reason those kids were dead. He was the reason Wyatt was dead. He wanted to kill me too! Damn him… Damn him to hell, I couldn’t help but think and for the first time in my life, as my blood began to boil, I felt a burning hatred towards someone. 

But what was I going to do to stop him? I didn’t know… but he was weakened. Maybe if I called the police…. Vincent would stay there long enough for him to be arrested. He couldn’t run in his current state so that was the best thing to do.

I stepped back into the office and quickly grabbed the phone, my breath heavy. I was so close to putting in the phone number but then I heard a stumble in the distraction. It sounded like someone had fallen over and… was that Vincent’s screams echoing off the walls? I dropped the phone and I turned towards the noise. What was going on? Was he trying to escape? Was he in pain? 

“Get back! Get back, I say!” Vincent’s voice roared throughout the halls. 

A chill running through my body, I grabbed a random thing on the desk, a wrench, and I ran towards that direction. I had no clue what could have been happening but if Vincent was trying to escape, I needed to stop him… but with the yells and the stumble, he couldn’t have been trying to escape. Something else was happening and I was going to figure out what it was. 

Soon, I walked up to the door of the safe room and after all these days of examining it, I was ready to walk in. I held my breath for a moment and stepped inside. 

The wall right after the door had several stains on it and a few gaping holes and as I took a step towards the right, my shoe squished into the water that cover the floor. The rain outside pounded against the ceiling and were bullets in my ears and there was a leak in the ceiling— several of them. I glanced around the ceiling to see all the water pouring out of it and falling into the already wet floor.

I slowly nudged my way to the edge of the wall and peek over the side of it so I could see what was going on inside and I froze.

The room wasn’t that special. It had some old arcade machines in the corner that was covered in dust and the upper back wall had high up windows that were small and too dirty for anyone to see out of. Webs covered the walls and every few minutes, a flash of lightening would occur, bringing light into the room for a second or two. Dust filled my nostrils, and I covered my nose to keep myself from sneezing…

Drip, drip, drip… the water kept falling into the room. 

And something sat in the corner of the room. It was a yellow thing, that shined and showed off its rust every time lightening would fill the air. Yet it still stayed in the shadows in the corner so I couldn’t see clearly what it was, but three toes stuck out from the darkness and a crumbling hand laying on the floor could be seen. I tried to lean closer into the room to see what this thing was as something built up inside of me, a foot stepped in front of it, blocking my view.

I squeaked softly and quickly moved back into my hiding spot as the person who stepped in front of the object was swinging an ax in the air, staring deeply at the figures that stood at the other side of the room. Vincent’s body shook and sweat soaked his clothes. His loose purple hair was soaked in the rainwater and it fell over his one working eye was darting to the sides, trying to avoid the figures. The swollen eye and still bled hid in the shadows. “Get back! All of you sliming and decaying bastards! You aren’t… you can’t be out…F-Fuck... I stopped you! Haha… I…” Vincent’s voice deflated, and he stepped back, holding his weapon close in desperation.

Across from him, a mere few inches away from me stood five children. 

Five young kids- four standing in a row and one standing in front to lead. Five young kids making a stand. Five kids that were too young for such a task like this. One wore a top hat and two had guitar hanging from his back. Three had a bib and four had a hook for a hand. And five… poor five. She was the one to have been here the longest. She had rosy cheeks and a sweater with long shelves that were black and white. She may not have started this mess but she would end it. Yes, she would.

Every kid had tear marks strolling down their cheeks, but their expressions were firm and determined. They held balloons behind their backs, its ribbons tied gently around their wrists. Simple kids that just wanted to have fun that day. All of them made mistakes in the past but never had the chance to grow from it but now, they had their chance here. They were finally free from their engagement that were the suits but that wasn’t enough to have them find their peace.

But there was a kid missing. 

The girl in front stepped towards Vincent without saying a word and Vincent stepped back again, holding his ax out in front of him but knowing it wouldn’t hurt a ghost. The girl stepped forward again and Vincent tried to run off. All the kids surrounded the exit, so he ran across the room in desperation, and the girl simply followed him. She moved with grace and silence as Vincent’s movements to scrabble away were loud as he stomped into the wet ground, making a splash and his breath was heavy. A humming vibrated throughout the room as the girl continued to calmly follow Vincent. 

Vincent almost fell as he slammed his body against the furthest wall, and he stared at the girl. He teased up and tried to splash water in the girl’s face by kicking towards her, but the girl seemed unfazed. She was getting closer to his target. Vincent had to run to the other side of the room, limping in pain, again. I didn’t know what he was trying to accomplish by doing this and I didn’t know if Vincent knew what he was doing either. Vincent made his way to the other side of the room but yet the girl still followed. 

“Get away from me!” Vincent yelled out and threw his ax at the girl, but he missed, and it pierced into the back wall. Vincent began to step to the side, slowly becoming terrified as the girl did nothing but walk. 

“What? What are you going to do? Kill me??? Huh? You aren’t… you will never touch me! Got it? You hear what I’m saying?” 

The girl walked more.

Vincent whimpered softly and he stepped back against the wall, knocking against the yellow object that stayed in the shadows. It knocked over to reveal itself to the crowd in the room and the kids screeched at this and stepped back, shaking. Even the girl that was following Vincent with determination in her dark eyes stepped back and seemed to freeze. She wouldn’t dare to take another step towards the fearful sight. 

What had fallen over should never make kids scared. It should have made them excited and happy and wanting to celebrate even more at their eyes sparkled and their laughs grew. They should have wanted hugs from it not to want to run away from it. What laid on the floor, right next to Vincent was a metal, yellow rabbit suit. 

The suit hasn’t held up after the years of being trapped in this room. It had rust all over it and its purple bowtie had gone missing. It was covered in holes and its golden exterior had faded away and was turning into a yellow-greenish color. It didn’t seem like it would be able to hold for much longer. Despite it falling apart, we all knew that it was, clearly.

It was Springtrap— the same suit Vincent wore when he committed his terrible, and unforgivable deeds. 

For a moment, Vincent didn’t realize that the object had moved, “Get back! All I wanted to do was sweep in and kill Jeremy! That’s it… and damn it! I came too late and…” He accidently kicked the suit again and it shifted a little. The kids flinched at this and they quickly stepped back, glancing towards one another. Vincent seemed to perk up at this, “W-What?” He glanced back over at the suit and for the first time he seemed to notice it. His eye sparkled and he slowly looked back over at the kids. For a moment, I thought he spotted me, and I quickly hid behind the corner again, holding my breath.

What was he thinking? I couldn’t tell but the panic and fear in his eyes seemed to fade away as the gears in his head started to turn, a smile spread across his face and he seemed to giggle softly. Was he going to hurt them? How? He couldn’t. Could he? I needed to stop him. But how?

I bit my tongue but… Vincent wasn’t hurting them; he turned to the wet and rusty suit and began to look for something that was on it. He gasped happily as he found a crank on the back of the suit and he started turning it. The mechanical parts that I could see through the holes of the suit was starting to press up against its side making on empty shell so someone could slip inside and wear it.

Had Vincent lost his mind as he picked up the suit’s head and he placed it on his head. He chuckled deeply as the kids shuttered and began to crowd together as their enemy was showing his true face after years of hiding. Lightening flashed across the room yet again as Vincent finished putting on the suit and he leaned against the wall for a moment, getting a feeling for the heavy metal against his shoulders. With every move he made, his body clanged and creaked, and he moved in mechanical movements that made it difficult for him to move smoothly but he didn’t seem to mind.

He tapped his fingers against the wall and chuckled softly as he turned back to the kids, his working brown eye glaring at them. He took one step towards them, splashing his metal paw against a puddle. The girl with the bib squeaked softly and hid behind the one with a guitar. Vincent’s violent laugh shook throughout the room and I covered my ears tightly. 

“Haha! Oh! You thought you could scare me away! You thought you could have your revenge? Haha, I’m sorry to say that you’re mistaken!” Vincent’s laugh echoed throughout the room and he spun around in victory. “Now step aside! I have a murder to commit!”

He took one step forward and that’s when it happened. 

Something clanged in Vincent’s suit as the water seeped into in rusty gears. At first, the damage was small, and Vincent gasped out in pain as he stared down at his hand. The gears have loosened and had popped back into place inside his hand. Vincent’s yell boomed out throughout the room as the rods and gears pieced into his palm and blood began to soak the metal hand. He cried and grabbed his hand in pain, and he fell against the wall, shaking violently, which was a mistake.

The moment he collided against the wall, a loud mechanic pop was heard throughout the room as the rest of the gears in the suit fell out of its compressed state and returned back to normal. Rods and gears pierced into Vincent’s skin within seconds and blood spatted out of suit body and covered the walls and fell into puddles underneath him. Vincent’s ear shattering scream only lasted a second as something must have stabbed through his skull and his howls of pain was cut off.

He fell towards the ground, with a THUD! as blood seeped out of the rabbit suit and soaked its faded yellow skin. Vincent tried to sit up, but he gagged and vomited onto the ground as something pierced into his soft neck. He then fell next to his mess and into a puddle of blood, his body shaking and losing control. His eye glared at the ghostly kids who stood in front of him. His shaky hand inched forward towards them, but it fell into the water. 

The life drained from his eye.

A silence followed and I covered my mouth, trying not to make a sound as I stared at the sight around me. My sight avoided the body laying on the ground at I stared at the bloody hand print that stained the wall and the ax that had fallen to the ground. 

The kids stayed there as my heartbeat continued to go fast and out of the corner of my eye, I watched them shift a bit from where they stood. They looked at each other for a moment before they slowly filed out of the room, one by one. I held my tongue and pressed up against the wall, so they wouldn’t see me as they left. I noticed some were wiping their tears away and were trying not to shake anymore. My mind was too full of thoughts to really process what was happening though.

Once they disappeared, I slowly breathed out. Vincent was dead. Oh, gosh… that monster had died right in front of my very eyes. What was I going to do? His dead body laid in his own blood, in the same suit that he killed those kids in… good riddance. He deserved it. 

Yet… 

The way he died must have been so painful. Just thinking about being crushed from the outside as rusty robs pierced into your organs and skin made me want to vomit. That was how he left this world— in a mess of metal and flesh, that laid in water and blood. 

But at least this was all over. At least there was that and we didn’t have to worry about Vincent harming the children here anymore. I slowly breathed out as the weight on my shoulders lifted away.

I couldn’t let myself linger on this for long though as I suddenly heard a crash from the main area and I quickly ran out of the room to see what was happening.


	16. A Pirate Show, a Massive Sandwich, and a Golden Suit

I didn’t know what I was expecting when I heard the crash in the main room as my heart rate was high for a few seconds, but it definitely wasn’t what I found and soon, I was breathing out a sigh of relief. 

There they were. Five kids sitting at a table. One of them had managed to accidently knock over a chair and that was the crash. Once I entered the room though, they all quickly got up and flew away to hide. They had moved so quickly, that I was unable to follow their movements.

I squeaked out softly and quickly ran towards the center of the room, “Wait! Kids? Are you okay? Why are you…” Why were they still here? Wyatt and I had always believed that once the killer had met his justices that the kids would finally be free but, they were still here? They should have been at peace, right? They should have yet… the expressions on their faces right before they hid, told me everything. 

They were still scared. All of them. A gruesome death wouldn’t help them be at peace, it would only terrify them more. And not only that, they were scared of me… did they think I would yell at them for trying to kill me? For killing my friend?...

I slowly started to walk around and as I passed Pirate’s Cove, a child’s voice erupted from there, “Arg! Get away from this place, you here? We don’t need any more grown-ups ruining our fun!” 

I slowly glanced towards the small cracks through the curtains of the cove and before I knew it, I was saying, “But it’s been years since you’ve performed for us, oh Foxy! Wouldn’t you like to make your grand debut?”

This was followed by a silence for a few seconds before a child with red hair slowly peeked his head out of the curtains. He spoke a lot softer compared to his threatening voice from before. “Wait, I can really put on a show?” 

I smiled brightly. “Of course!” 

“…And you won’t be scared of me?...”

My heart dropped at this. “No, no I won’t. I promise.” 

The kid perked up at this. “O-Okay. Can you… Can you open up the curtains when I tell you to?” I nod at this and the kid makes an excited noise. He floats back into Pirate’s Cove and he coughed softly before he spoke. His squeaking voice was loud and proud. “Arg! Once upon a time, Freddy was sailing the seas, carrying his treasures chests full of pizza in his ship when suddenly!... U-Um, open the curtains.”

I quickly pushed the old curtains to the side and the kid jumped up to the front of the small stage, a red balloon tied to his waist bouncing behind him. He stood up straight and proud and yelled out, “Foxy’s ship pulled up next to him and the captain on board shouted out! ‘I am here to steal all your pizza!’” The kid chuckled as he pretends to hold out a sword. 

I smiled at the sight and I brought over a chair to sit so I could watch the show, my face beaming. The kid told of an epic tale of treasure hunting and sword fights as Freddy and Foxy had to team up when Freddy’s treasure chests was accidently was lost to the waves. The tale was so grand, I didn’t want it to end but soon it did with Foxy tricking the bear, like he always does and running off with some pizzas, leaving Freddy to chase after him. The kid bowed when he finished and I stood up, clapping. 

“Thank you, thank you.” The young kid said and he smiled a bit as he floated off the stage and wandered over to me, seeming to be a lot braver now. “Thank you…”  
“That story was great!” I smiled. 

“You really think so?” The kid bounced a little, the balloon tied to him hopping as he went. The ghost inched towards me, his eyes full of hope.

“Of course… we all missed your performances, kid.”

The kid slowly nodded and seeming to be content, he slowly took my hand and shuffled his feet. “Thanks… Um, I know where the other kids are if you need to find them.”

“Thank you, kid… I, I need to make sure they’re okay..” 

The kid nodded and then started skipping off as he loudly sung a pirate song and he spun around to the music. I followed him as he tapped the table and chairs as we passed them. He made music that didn’t have a constant rhythm or melody but a large smile still spread across my face as he played. I chuckled softly before I started to whistle along with the kid’s music and the beat echoed off the walls and spread throughout the building, bringing life to it. 

Soon, the kid brought me to the dark kitchen and I held my breath. The cameras never worked in the kitchen so what kind of terrible stuff could be lurking here in the dark hours? I slowly glanced around and flipped on the light switch, and was shocked that the power still worked here. I glanced across the kitchen and my shoulders lowered in relief as I saw nothing that would jump out of the shadows.

That didn’t mean there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. In the middle of the kitchen, two kids sat in the middle of the floor. I could almost see through them. Once the lights turned on through, the girl quickly grabbed their companion’s hand and the two floated behind a counter, making a soft and terrified noise. Wait… I knew who these kids were. One wore a bib and the other had a guitar hanging from his back… Floating behind the counter and attacked to them were balloons. One was yellow and the other was blue. 

I slowly stepped towards where they ran off too. “Hey, kids… Don’t mind me, I’m just…” I quickly tired to figure out something and say, “here to make a late-night snack. I haven’t had anything to eat since my shift started so…. Um, you guys want to help?” 

A silence passed for a moment before a girl poked her head over the counter and she slowly nodded. The guitar kid that was by her must have been encouraged by his friend deciding to help because soon after, he too made himself known and he nodded.

“Hmm, let’s not have too much. You want to help me make a sandwich? We can make whatever sandwich you two want.” 

The kids perked up at this and they ran to the fridge and the pantry to get the supplies. Even the child from Pirate’s Cove ran after them so he can be a part of this. I chuckled softly and I slowly walked to the counter, waiting to see what the kids would bring me. I could hear them debating by the fridge on what they should bring and then the girl spoke up, “just bring all of it.” I smiled more at this. I could already tell that whatever I was going to eat today, I wasn’t going to like. 

But as long as these kids could act like kids again, even if it’s just for a little bit, then it didn’t matter to me. Everything I did was for them, and I was going to help them find their peace if it was the last thing I did. 

Soon enough, all the kids were running back over to the counter, carrying a lot of food in their arms and giggling. They were scheming to give me the worst snack, weren’t they? 

Whatever they decided to do, I decided to play along as I smiled widely and turned to them, “Do you have all the ingredients to make the best sandwich imaginable?”

All the kids nodded at this and the Pirate’s Cove kid covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing loudly. I only tilted my head as I took out two pieces of bread and I laid it on a plate. “Alright, kid… I’m ready to make the food so tell me what to do and I’ll make that.” 

The kids gasped softly and then turned to each other to whisper in each other’s ears. The girl then turned back to me and pointed to the ketchup and the boy with the guitar pointed to the shredded cheese bag.

“Oh? You want me to put these on the sandwich?” The kids nodded a lot and I soon did what I was instructed to do. This lasted for a few minutes as the kids kept pointing to different things that should be on the sandwich like ranch or mushrooms. The Pirate’s Cove kid even joined in and told me to put a chocolate cookie right in the middle of the sandwich, which I did without question and the kids continued to giggle at me. As I placed a piece of bread on top of the messy sandwich, I was amazed at how tall it was due to how much was put inside it. 

“So, is the sandwich done?” The kids nod a lot. “And you guys want me to eat this?” They nod again and I started laughing. “Oh, you are cruel. You guys should have some if you were able to.” 

The kids tried to push me towards the sandwich, to try to make me eat it and I chuckle. Finally, I grab the sandwich and picking it up, a lot of the filling fell out of the sandwich and fell onto the plate. The kids didn’t seem to mind this as they started to chant for me to “eat it. Eat it.”

I chuckled softly and I pretended to take a bite out of the sandwich. “Mmm, that was so good.” 

The kids pouted a little at this and the girl hung onto my arm, shaking her head as the boy with the guitar lingered behind the girl, a bit shy. The girl’s eyes were large and wide and she pleaded softly for me to eat what she helped make. 

I couldn’t say no to those eyes. Stopping myself from breathing in the strong scent of the food, I quickly bite into the sandwich and swallowed it quickly. The wave of flavor washed over my tongue and I had to do my best not to gag as I looked over at the kids and smiled, telling them that they made the best sandwich in the world. The kids gasped happily at this and they high-fived each other and as they turned away to do this, I quickly grabbed a glass of water and chugged it down. As I finished the glass, the kids suddenly attacked hugged me and I tried to hug back but… my arms only went through their ghostly forms. I sighed softly at this as the kids let go of the hug and slowly stepped back as they seemed to talk to each other again. 

The boy with the guitar whispered, “Where is he?” 

The Pirate Cove boy shrugged, “Don’t know. Must be looking for his brother or something… He wasn’t there when that meanie died.”

The girl glances around. “Do you think he’s going to find him? Oh gosh… last I saw him, he was in the terrifying yellow bear suit…. He… he couldn’t move at all… Just l-like when we-“ The girl shakenly hugged herself and she glanced back over at me for a moment. “I… I’m sorry. We hurt him. We hurt him… he’s hurting so b-badly now. We… We did that to him. W-We deserved this… I’m sorry.” 

The two other kids look at each other before they hug the girl tightly and mutter softly to her. I couldn’t understand what they were saying but I slowly inched closer to them so I could also say a few words. “No, kid. You didn’t deserve this.  
None of you guys deserved this. No one deserved what you kids went through… okay?” 

The kid slowly turned towards me and only gave a small nod. She hugged the guitar kid more, seeming to cling onto him and she sighed deeply. 

“None of you deserves this.” I continued to repeat this so I can reassure the kids over and over again.

The girl slowly nodded again and spoke softly. “We… we need to find him and tell him that too. And then we can find his brother! We, we can free him…. M-maybe.”

The boy with the guitar spoke up, “M-Maybe. He wasn’t there… but… he… we need to save him but how?”

“Are you guys talking about Golden Freddy?” I added in, a little hesitant. The kids slowly turned back to me, like they were just remembering that I was there. The guitar kid hid behind the girl and the Pirate’s Cove boy stepped in front of them. They all didn’t know what to make from what I just said so I quickly continued to speak. “I think I know where the brother is and your friend must be around there. I was in the office today and I was working and… when I looked up from the monitor, I saw this golden bear on the floor… is… is that him? Is that the brother?” 

The girl slowly nodded, as she hugged her balloon close. At this, the other kids started to nod as well and I breathed out slowly, “Would you like me to take you there?” The nodded again. 

I looked down at the barely eaten sandwich and started to walk out of the kitchen and towards my office. The kids looked at each other, like they were debating this, but soon enough they started to follow. First, the Pirate’s Cove boy followed close behind me and then the girl did, who was holding the other boy’s hand in encouragement. Their balloons bounced behind them as they followed.

It only took a minute before we were nearing in at the office. Just a few feet away, the cold air stuck to my skin and I shivered as I had almost returned back to my work station. But I was safe now. I should be safe… I was and nothing was going to hurt me or those kids ever again, despite us returning to the place that was fighting grounds for years. So much fear and death has happened within these halls and in that office but for maybe once, it can have some peace and hope.   
I reached the office and before looking inside it, I could hear something soft and a voice that was almost shaking. Was that crying? And why did the air grow so heavy and cold? My teeth chattered as I reached the door and I slowly pecked inside it, trying my best not to be noticeable by whoever was inside. 

There was another child. He had on a top hat and was staring down at his shaking hands as he sat on the floor. He too had a balloon, this one was brown, tied around his wrist and it was slowly to the floor.

Next to the kid, was a golden bear suit that still seemed as lifeless as last time, except for one thing. Was a voice coming from it? Oh gosh, there was. It was soft and was often swept up by the wind, but it was there. The screams from the suit sounded like pleads and cries… What could the spirit in the suit be feeling all these time? Oh gosh. Tears swelled up in my eyes as I couldn’t help but let myself wonder the worst things.

The ghost girl behind me gasped at the sight and she ran towards the top hatted boy. She quickly hugged him and the other kids also floated into the room, looking between the golden suit and the hugging duo with worry. 

The top hatted kid opened his mouth to speak but he quickly closed it not sure what to say. He looked across the room, deep in thought before he looked back over at the gold suit and stood up, pulling away from the hug. The kid tried to focus as he attempted to grab onto the suit’s head but his hands only phased through it. He then closed his eyes and focused really hard and tried to do it a second time but no matter what he did, the kid couldn’t touch the golden suit. The other ghosts glanced at each other before they crawled over to the golden suit and tried to do the same, all at the same time, but they too couldn’t do anything. 

The top hat kid watched his friends as this happened and his eyes widened. “No, no… he can’t. Brother, brother…. P-please. I want you to come with us. Please…” The kid curled up tightly by the suit. The other kids glanced at each other in silence, not sure what to say. 

I stood there for a second and stared at the golden suit in the office. It was him… Gosh, the bite of ’83 victim was sitting right in front of me and he was trapped. He needed help. He needed to get free! 

Holding my breath, I slowly stepped into the office and I spoke up, “Can I try to help?” 

The top hatted kid growled softly at me and quickly stood up, like he was trying to protect his brother with his open arms. The other kids also got up but they quickly turned to the protective kid to whisper a few words. I could only hear them say a few things like, ‘It’s Jeremy!’ and ‘He’s a friend.’ I slowly lowered my shoulders hearing this. The kids glanced back towards me and then to the hot hat kid again and simply nodded, like they were saying, ‘Trust us.’ 

The top hat kid watched me for a moment before he took a step aside and sat down next to the golden suit. He stared down at its hand, wish for nothing more but to hold it. 

I slowly stepped forward and sat down in front of the golden suit. I examined the suit that seemed to glow in the office before I slowly glanced around at the other kids. “Do you guys want me to remove the head?”

The top hat kid quickly started to nod and the others slowly joined in. I slowly nodded back and I breathed out shakenly as I tried to boost myself up. I could do this. It was a simple task and soon these kids would be free. It was just a matter of seconds. I slowly reached towards the suit’s head and to my surprise, I was able to grab onto it. All it took was a simple pull and the suit’s head was taken off and I let it fall to my side. 

The head’s clanging on the ground echoed throughout the office and this was followed by a silence as a golden balloon floated out of the new hole on the top of the golden suit. The balloon was then stopped floating any higher because of the string it was tied to- its end was still inside the torso of the suit. I slowly glanced over at the kids, who were watching me, not sure what to do. I scooted closer to the golden suit and pecked into the torso of it.

It was like a dark and round container for inside it was like an empty shell with no mechanical parts to be seen but that didn’t mean it was completely empty. Inside, curled up at the bottom, was what the balloon was tied to. A small boy, that was younger than the rest of the others, laid inside the suit. The moment I had removed the head, he must have been confused because he was looking up towards the new opening. The kid’s eyes were red and their tear stains were rolling down his cheeks and were dark in color. The moment I had peeked into the suit, the boy squeaked and quickly curled up as tightly as he could while he turned away from me. 

“No… Kid, it’s okay. I promise… I won’t hurt you. The mean man is gone, okay? He won’t hurt you and no one will hurt you ever again.” 

The kid didn’t seem to move and I slowly glanced over at the other kids. My hands shaking, I slowly closed my eyes and I softly started to sing a soft lullaby. It was quiet at first but as I slowly gained confidence in singing, I became a little louder and I opened my eyes to watch the other kids. They were slowly gathering close to me, whether they were sitting down on laying on the floor and they closed their eyes as they listened. 

After a few seconds, the small kid from inside the suit poked his head out of it and he slowly reached his hand out towards him. I gently took it and smiled in encouragement and in relief that I was able to do that and helped the kid stumble out of the suit and land next to his older brother. 

The small boy and I looked at each other for a moment and I smiled sweetly and the boy smiled back before he went and attack hugged his brother, who hugged back quickly. The kids perked up at this and they quickly joined in. I scooted away from then to let them all hug each other tightly and I smiles widely. They were happy. So, so happy. 

The kids laughed out and smiled as they embraced each other and then the balloon that was tied to the smallest boy suddenly loosened and escaped his reach. I looked up and watched the balloon float towards the ceiling, spinning around. And then… the other balloons were joining too. One, two, three, four, five balloons. All of them were floating towards the ceiling and towards the sky. One last happy ring of laughter echoed throughout the office as the balloon phased through the ceiling as it continued to float upwards and I could no longer see them. 

I looked back down towards the office and gasped softly. 

The kids have disappeared. 

I wasn’t scared about this though. I wasn’t concerned or terrified that they were hurt but instead a smile lingered on my face. The kids were finally free. They have moved on. Oh gosh, finally, the kids have found their peace. This was the day we have been waiting for years for and finally the heaviness in my chest had lifted away.

But even then… there was still one more kid left. She was the one who brought everyone to the safe room but I haven’t seen her since Vincent died. Was she okay? Was she too at peace or was she still in this building somewhere? I had to be completely sure so after a moment of sitting in silence, I stood up and walked out of the office.


	17. A Single Popped Balloon...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter has some blood and gore in it

Before I started to look for the child, I grabbed a slice of cake from the kitchen. I don’t know why I believed this would help because she wouldn’t be able to eat it but something told me deep down that this would help. It was a birthday cake that was chocolate and the frosting was chocolate as well. It was a very sweet cake. I had a feeling that this was the kid’s favorite kind and I hoped I wasn’t mistaken. 

So there I was, nearing in to 6 in the morning and I was roaming around the restaurant with a slice of cake in my hands as I walked around the place and called out for the little girl. I moved around the entire restaurant, hopping to see her anywhere but I couldn’t find her. She wasn’t on stage or in parts and services. As I moved around the mechanical parts scattered across the hallways she wasn’t there, and as I peeked out of the windows she wasn’t outside either. I had looked everywhere in the place but I couldn’t find her anywhere…

Well, there still was one place that I didn’t look.

Holding my breath, I made my way back to the safe room and I prayed silently that the girl wasn’t where… he died. Why would the girl want to linger there out of all places? Oh gods… please don’t let her be there…

Once there, I slowly opened the false wall again and stepped into the safe room and noticed that it was very dark now that the storm had passed and lightening wasn’t going off every few minutes. Moving around the wall that blocked into the room at least the street lights outside could barely be seen through the high windows so I could still see…. And in the corner of the room... What was that in the shadows? Was that a purple balloon that stood all on its own, slowly bouncing in the wind? 

Walking inside, I blew out a shaky breath at seeing she was here. A small girl with brown, long hair and a black shirt with white stripes. Tied around her wrist was a black balloon that seemed to try to pull away from the small girl but she wouldn’t allow this. She was scooting closer and closer to the figure that laid in front of her and horror seemed to fill her eyes. She started to mutter something softly as she shook her head but I couldn’t understand her. 

I glared that the yellow suit that sat in front of her before I quickly looked away from it and coughed softly. The girl yelped at the sudden noise and quickly backed away from the rabbit suit, thinking the noise came from it. Soon though, she noticed me standing there and she stared at me, almost shocked to see that I didn’t booked it out of the building. 

“What are you?... Why are you?...” 

“I wanted to bring you some cake!” 

The girl stepped back from me and whispered softly, “…Huh?” 

I shrugged and I slowly walked into the room and sat down on the wet floor, holding the cake close and staying a few feet away from the girl. “…It was a party, right? A party that you missed?” The girl slowly nodded. “W-Well, I know you can’t eat but… I thought you might like…. Yeah…” I shrugged, awkwardly. 

The girl stared at me for a moment and before I knew what was happening, she attacked hugged me, her body shaking as well. “Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald… Thank you so, so much…” 

“….Hey, it’s okay. I did nothing kid… you, you did everything.. You wanted to help them? You were that shadow Freddy just now, right?” The girl slowly nods.

“Then you saved them. You did it. Gosh… I hope when I have a kid in the future, they are just like you and do you want to know why?” 

“…Why?” She spoke barely above a whisper. 

“Because you’re sweet and kind and… you just want everyone to be happy. You just want to be a bright star that everyone can come to and you were. You were kid…. You did good.” 

“…I did good?” 

“Of course, you did! You were amazing and because of that, you can rest now.”

“…I…. I would like to rest.” The girl crawled closer to me and sat there as she leaned her head on my arm and she looked up at the ceiling.

“You can, kid… you can.” The girl slowly nodded, smiling a little as she hugged my arm. I gently looked down at her and softly hummed in her ear and she smiled even brighter before the string around her wrist started to loosen. And just like before, the balloon escaped from the girl’s grasp and began to float up, up, up towards the ceiling. I watched it make its journey up through the ceiling and once it was out of sight, I felt the hug around my arm disappear. I glanced down next to me and sighed in relief as the young girl was no longer by my side.

And that was it. The kids were finally free from their trap and soon tears stared to swell in my eyes and I hugged myself tightly. This was all over. Oh gods… finally, it was over and we can finally rest.

Tap, tap, tap

At least, that’s what I felt for just a few seconds.

I stared at the corner of the room and saw that there was one more balloon left and this one was tapping against the ceiling. It was trying to float through it just like the others but it couldn’t. It continued to hit the ceiling over and over again. Tap, tap, tap. I slowly stood up from the wet floor, water dripping off my pants as I stared at the purple balloon with wide eyes. 

As it continued to do this, I slowly looked back over to Spring Bonnie, who was just sitting in the water, its victim lying dead inside it. I quickly stepped back from the suit, thoughts spinning in my mind. We did it. We finally helped the kids be free but at what cost? Another dead body in the restaurant? Another one in a suit? But… we should be fine. It will be okay. Anyone who was killed by the animatronics here, unless they were kids, never haunted the restaurant. We just have a dead body here, in a room that no one walked into. We, we should be fine.

POP!!! 

A loud pop echoed throughout the room and shot into my ears, which I quickly covered, as I shook. I quickly turned to the loud noise and I stared as the remains of a balloon slowly floating down to the wet concert. The balloon just popped… That was it. Nothing was a problem. It was okay. Everything was okay and nothing was going to happen. 

Yeah… gosh why was it so quiet in here? And it was so close to 6 now. I should probably head out and wait to see if anyone shows up to check on me… Yeah, yeah that would be good. And I could get out of this quiet, dark and wet room that had something lingering in the air. I stared at the bloodied suit in front of me again and I held my breath, almost expecting something to happen, but it didn’t. It didn’t. 

And that was good. 

I slowly breathed out and turned away from the suit as I began to walk away from the terrible scene. I wanted to get out of here as quickly and as soon as I could and I wanted to leave it all in the past and thankfully I was about to-

And then, as I was stepping out of the safe room and making my way into the lit hallways, I heard something. The soft clicking sound quickly made my heart drop and I closed my eyes tightly, wishing and hoping not to hear another sound. But my wishes were in vain as the creaking of metal could be heard as splashing water followed.

No… oh dear god, no. No… My heart started to beat faster and I knew that I had to see this myself. I needed to see. If my worst fears were true then… Oh, I didn’t know what was going to happen. What would we do if this was true?

Holding my breath, I slowly stepped into the safe room again, wishing truly that it’s name was correct for once. Sadly though, my wish wouldn’t be true with what I found and soon, I was slowly trying to back away from the scene, my hands over my chest as I tried not to make a heavy breath. 

Right where the Spring Bonnie suit was laying mere moments before, it had now moved. No, it was moving! It stood by the wall, facing away from me as its hands were placed onto the cold stone so it could stay standing. Its body cracked with every slight movement and blood dripped off its metallic skin. They body shook and coughed loudly, seeming to be in great pain. 

Of course, they would be in pain. How couldn’t you be in pain after what just happened? But… Wasn’t he dead? I thought…

I stepped back and my foot accidently splashed into a puddle, its sound echoing throughout the room. I gasped out loudly as the golden suit’s head quickly turned towards me, a sinister growl appearing on its emotionless and stagnated face. Its eyes, which were flickering between blue and brown noticed my face and they seemed to widen a bit. 

The face’s mouth slowly managed to open in choppy movements and its gory interior could be seen. Its slimy voice was a low growl but also very, very familiar. “J-Jeremy?” 

He tried to step towards me but the loud clang of the springlocks inside his suit moving and the piercing into his skin was too much. He screamed out in pain and almost fell to the ground again but clenching his teeth and clinging his fists, he managed to stay standing. He quickly gripped his legs as they were shaking. 

“W-Why does everything…” He glanced down at his legs and his eyes widened at the sight of his metal hand, blood soaking through it. “…H-Hurt?...” They slowly balanced themselves against the wall again, their back pressed against it as they stared down at their hands for a moment. They made a small noise as they slowly touched their fingers against their yellow cheeks and they flinched. They tried to reach towards the bottom of their mask to try to pull it off but was unable to try before I started speaking.

“V-Vincent!” I couldn’t help but scream out a little. No, no, no…. He couldn’t be just like those kids… 

The man who stood in front of me flinched again and his hands slowly fell to his sides as he slowly looked at me. I don’t know how, but I swear that he was smiling at me. But how? It was a metal face I was staring at but… in the darkness of the night, I could see a smile on his face through the shadows. 

His voice became more cheerful and echoed off the walls, “Jeremy!” As he acted happily, I noticed him slowly bringing his fingers to his neck like he was trying to find something. A heartbeat? “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you said you would never take the nightshift again.” 

I glanced around trying to avoid the suit looking at me as I processed what was happening. “But… But the suit. The springs loosened! How are you… C-Crap… crap. Please, please no…” 

The man spoke up, almost chucking. “Come on, Jeremy. Why are you shaking like that? This is completely normal…” Vincent’s words dragged off a little, like he was trying to convince himself of this.

I was still trying to process this myself, “But… But you went in the suit and-“

“I know what I did, you idiot!” Vincent screamed this out and forcefully stepped towards me, his head twitching. This movement was so suddenly that the suit clanged again and more blood poured out of his suit. Vincent yells out before he quickly leans over and starts coughing up blood, which dripped off his chin. Before I could say anything, they grabbed their chests and soon their coughing turned into a low and painful laugh. “I… I will make sure those kids pain for this.”

I slowly stepped back. “The kids… you…” Something tugged inside me and I glared at Vincent, and quickly spoke up, my voice firm. “What do you mean, they will pay for this? You killed them! You killed them and hid it from everyone for, for such a long time… and…”

Vincent slowly managed to straighten up again. “Oh, relax Jeremy. That is all in the past.” 

“What? In, in the past?!? A business is failing, Wyatt is dead, and five kids never got to grow up all because of you! They are gone. They’re gone! What you did can’t be simply, ‘In the past.’” 

Vincent simply rolled his eyes at this as he slowly started to walk towards me and I took a few steps back. “Is that it? Heh… you don’t know a fraction of the things I did.” He manages to reach me and his looming body’s shadow fell over top me. “Here and outside of the pizzeria.” 

Sweating bleeding through the back of my shirt, my body froze as I tried to avoid looking at the decaying body over me. “What did you… why did you have to… What kind of sick mind do, do you have? How could you…” 

Vincent seemed to breath out at this and he took a step back, very amused. “Oh? Why? You want to know why I did that? Sorry to disappoint you, my friend, but I don’t know why.” Vincent leaned back and a weak laugh left him. He then looked over back towards me and his voice became quieter. “I really don’t know, Jerms. All I know is…. Since the first time I scraped my knee or… or stubbed my toe, I was a little bit different. I enjoyed the pain and, well… if blood was involved, I enjoyed it more. It was so nice… it really was. It was so good that sometimes, I would even hurt myself to have that feeling of pure satisfaction.” As he said the last sentence, he slowly moved his cold, rusty finger across my neck. 

A chill went through my spine and I tried to step away from Vincent as I rubbed my neck. “Don’t do that…” 

“Oh, oh. No, of course I won’t. Not to you… didn’t we say that we were friends, well, just yesterday… or was it the day before?”   
I couldn’t answer Vincent’s question before he quickly continued his story. “I, I had this drive, this desire! to see things that was considered inhuman. And I can see the fear in your eyes, Jerms… but it doesn’t bother me. In fact, it gives me a special kind of feeling. And kids… well kids, they’re better.”   
“Y-You’re crazy. Sick!”  
“Pfft, when did you finally figure that out? When I tried to kill you?” Vincent would have laughed if his voice didn’t drip off and sound, so, so sad. He drew out a shaky breath. “…I’m not crazy. I’m not! I, I never meant to, to well, um… kill that first girl back at Fredbear’s. I just wanted to hear her screams just, just a little bit. Maybe even see some, see some blood too! But just a little of it. Just a little…. I, I don’t know what happened! I know I went too far… I did but, but the thing is.” Vincent stared at me, his body shaking. “I liked it better.” Vincent stared at me, trying to find the right words to what he wanted to say. “There’s…. something interesting about draining the life out of someone… and something even more interesting when you hear that they are suffering for years in a pizzeria… And it was all because of me? What?” 

I should have been stepping in to say something. I shouldn’t have let him ramble on for this long, but what were you supposed to say in a situation like this? All I knew was that my heart rate was rising and that my blood was boiling but also freezing cold. Oh gods, why was it so cold in here as I slowly hugged myself tightly. What was I going to do? 

Vincent was now muttering to himself. “And even now, I can hear their screams and cries. Oh, it’s so nice.”

I stepped back at this and finally managed to speak. “W-What? But Vincent… didn’t you see that little girl? She’s at peace. She, she’s free! In fact… all of the kids are free. They aren’t here any longer…” 

Vincent stared at me more as I spoke these words and slowly, he started to step back, his body shaking violently as the creaks of the suit echoed off the walls. “W-What?... No, no, no… Please, damn it! All of them? All of them are gone and… I’m alone? No. No, that isn’t true. Those kids will be here forever!”

I stared at Vincent. I’ve never seen him like this before… his descending into madness. What was I going to do? “V-Vincent? Ae you okay? Why are you… Come on…” 

“…What? Are you surprised to see me this way? I see it in your eyes and well…. We’ve known each other for years and years and years. We’re kind of like partners. You shouldn’t be acting so surprised like that… years and years and years… isn’t it funny how different the two of us are from each other?”

“I’m not surprised, you sicko…” The moment I said these words, I quickly regretted it and I quickly covered my mouth.

A silence passed between the two of us before Vincent spoke, his voice darker and looming in the air. “It looks like Mike has been influencing you, a lot but what have I told you? Never back mouth me or… or… I…” Vincent glanced around and a realization passed over him as he slowly stared at the ax that was still in this room. “We’re alone.” A laugh left through his throat and my body felt tightened up. 

“No… whatever you’re thinking. Please, don’t.” I slowly started stepping back towards the front of the room. 

“Well… Jerms, you may have the deed but you’re not my boss anymore-“ 

Vincent slowly picked up the ax as he said this and once, he had the weapon at hand, his body lunged towards me. His hands were twitching and a large decaying smile could be seen through the teeth of the rabbit suit. He jumped towards me and I had to quickly step out of the way, my body banging against a wall. Vincent fell onto his knees due to the failed leap and he glared at me with beating eyes. 

He slowly tried to stand up to get to me, but then the springlocks in his suit clanged loudly and pierced even more due to Vincent’s sudden movements with the jump. Blood spattered onto the ground and more would have as well, if there was any blood left in him. I covered my mouth and debated on closing my eyes as Vincent fell to the side again, curled up into a ball and shaking. He gasped heavily trying to grab breath even if gaining it wouldn’t help him as his legs twitched. 

“Get this off me. Get it off. Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff.” He breathed heavily and screamed out in pain again as the suit clanged loudly another time. He slowly grabbed his mask and tried to pull it off, but it wouldn’t. It just wouldn’t. 

Vincent stared at me and despite what he was doing mere seconds before, he started to plead for my help. “Jeremy, h-help me… please, help me. The pain… it hurts, it hurts… it hurts so much… dear gods!” 

I should have ran for safety as he laid there in pain. Why did he deserve my help after all this time? Why did I continue to stand in that safe room, staring at the killer in horror when every inch of my body told me to run? As Vincent yelled out another spine-tingling screech throughout the room, all my instances betrayed me. The yells sounded too painful and heart-wrenching that I had to do something, even for this killer. 

I quickly ran towards Vincent’s side and I sat down on the floor, examining him. My breath was heavy but I did my best not to show how scared I really was to Vincent. What was I going to do? He was I going to save him? I don’t know but I needed to stop the screams that shattered in my ears. 

“Just breath okay… everything is going to be okay… we’re going to get you out of-“ 

As I spoke, I slowly grabbed hold of the Golden Bonnie head and I tried to pull it off of Vincent. I lowered to robot’s jaw and tried to lift the upper half first but it wouldn’t budge. It was due to the sight that was in front of me and I almost wanted to vomit on the spot but I quickly swallowed it down. My eyes widen and I quickly let go of Vincent as I scooted away, my body shaking. 

Oh gods… his face… his face was… how was he still talking? He could he move? It didn’t even look like a face anymore. 

I covered my mouth as I shook my head. “Oh gods… I can’t… I can’t help… I…”  
Vincent painfully sat up and the rabbit’s head settled back over his face. “What, what do you mean… You, Jeremy p-please…”

I shook my head again. “You’re stuck there… You’re dead… oh gods…” I slowly started to stand up and walked over to a wall to lean against it as the energy inside me drained. I could barely stay standing.

Vincent slowly stood up at these words and started to shake his head. “What, what? No… Jeremy, come back… please… don’t you dare say I’m dead.” His voice started to shake. “D-Don’t you…” 

He slowly drew a breath as realization settled onto him. He grabbed hold of his chest, shaking his head. “I, I’m dead… Just like those kids… exactly like those kids… But… they had each other. They never were, were truly alone… Did you say they were gone?” Vincent stared at me and I slowly nodded. “…They’re gone? All of them?”

“…Y-Yes, Vincent…”

It seemed to take him a moment to process this. “All of them? Every single one?... What am I going to do when it’s… when no one is here? Am I going to be alone, Jeremy? I… I don’t want to be alone…”

Vincent started to lose his balance and he stepped to the side a bit, and in a panicked, he looked around. His foot kicked something and again, he was looking down at the ax that he tried to weld just a minute before. Now he had even more motivation to try to accomplish his goal, I could see it in his eyes.

“Except maybe…” He slowly bent over and picked up the ax as his eye twitched and a chuckle left him. Before I could protest, he stared at me and simply took one step forward.

“Don’t, Don’t do it, Vincent…” I bit my tongue and slowly started to inch towards the door to escape.

“I am sorry, my friend.” 

Vincent ignored the pain as he once again lunged towards me. I tried to run off, but I slipped on the wet ground and I fell back, yelping in pain. Vincent only laughed loudly at this as he swung his arms towards me to strike. Unable to move, I quickly covered my eyes and waiting for the pain…

But… it didn’t. 

The creaking of the spring suit close to me stopped and I slowly breathed out. Still tease, I opened my eyes to take a peek and saw Vincent standing right overtop me, his smile frozen in place. I yelped and quickly scooted away from him, my hands clinging to the ground. Vincent didn’t follow me though… he was frozen. Frozen like a statue that was ready to strike down upon his enemy. 

Wha… why was he? 

I glanced towards the window and the early morning sunrays was peeking through the window. It was six. Oh gods, it was six! And, I was free to live for another day. 

Standing up, I almost fell into the water again as I breathed out a sigh of relief. Not wanted to risk my safety, I quickly ran out of the room, and I locked the door behind me. There… now he would never get out. He was going to be trapped there… and he wasn’t going to hurt anyone ever, ever again… 

But yet… he was still here. He was still moving and talking… he could still hurt someone if that door opened…

What was I going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, it's been a while. Haha. School started at the beginning of last month and I have a difficult time writing while its in session. I'm unsure when the next chapter will be posted but hey! be excited because the next chapter will be the last one!


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